The Girl Who Stayed
by avalon.clarity
Summary: Leah believes that ordinary people can't do extraordinary things until a mysterious man called the Doctor in a blue box gives her the chance to be much more than ordinary. And by staying with the Doctor, she might find a bit more than adventure traveling across the stars. 10/OC
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey all! Whether you follow one of my other stories, me, or this is your first time reading one of my stories, welcome! After three or four months of telling my followers that this was coming, it's finally here! This is the only time I'll upload on a Wednesday. Check back every Friday (Pacific Time) for a new chapter.**

**Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I only own my OC Leah, and her family. All the other credit goes to the writers and producers of Doctor Who.**

_Time is_

_Too Slow for those who Wait,_

_Too Swift for those who Fear,_

_Too Long for those who Grieve,_

_Too Short for those who Rejoice;_

_But for those who Love,_

_Time is not._

"Time Is" by Henry Van Dyke

Leah's life was so painful sometimes.

Honestly, who wanted to spend their entire lives being so stuck in one place?

She was running. At least when she ran she felt like she was going somewhere.

She jogged past a line of abandoned warehouses, almost unaware of where she was. A flash of black fabric, whirling into a door, caught her eye.

She paused, breathing hard, her ear buds falling from their places in her ears. She hadn't imagined the movement; she knew that for a fact. Strands of her corkscrew dark blonde hair escaped from its tight ponytail, and she brushed them back absentmindedly.

Later, she would ask herself why she headed around that corner. What had she hoped to accomplish by doing so? It was getting dark. Had she been looking for trouble?

Leah turned the corner. It was a narrow door, the entrance marked with a red x. She twisted on the handle and to her surprise, it opened.

The door swung open silently, and she tiptoed inside. Her sneakers didn't make a sound as she headed into the dark interior of the warehouse.

The sound of voices cascaded like a river through the air. Leah followed the noise, staying to the shadows.

If she hadn't, she definitely would've been seen.

Two men came around the corner just as quietly, and she ducked into a dark shadow. They wore floor-length brown robes with hoods, and their whispers carried. They sounded excited.

"He will be ready for the sacrifice tonight."

"Are you sure? It's been one hundred years since his last rising. If everything is not perfect-"

"It is, I promise you."

"And the children?"

"Jacob and Luther are bringing them."

Leah crept behind them as they unknowingly led her through the maze. Finally, the hallways opened up into a large cavern.

Leah stopped stock-still. Flames flickered on the walls. Seven or so men in the identical brown robes made a semi-circle around a pit full of water. The two men she had followed joined in seamlessly, their voices adding to a strange chant.

As she watched, there was a hissing. A single yellow eye blinked at her as a massive, snake-like creature rose out of the pit.

A scream tore from Leah's throat.

The group of men turned and stared at her. Leah stumbled back before running away at top speed.

Shouts echoed after her, but she wasn't stopping. She kept running and running until she saw the door, outlined in silver.

She shoved it open and stumbled out, blinking furiously, into the bright grey of the sky.

She sprinted away, glancing behind her. The men poured out, all trying to fit through the narrow space at once.

Leah ran down the line of warehouses. She was in the middle of nowhere. These men chasing her could murder her and no one would know. Her mom wouldn't worry until tomorrow, thinking she was staying over at Dakota's. She would die completely alone.

The thought made her breath catch in her throat and her legs pump faster.

She turned a corner and saw it. She had excelled in history in high school, so she knew what it was.

An old, blue, 1960s police box was standing in the middle of the wide, paved stretch of ground. And it could still work, if she was lucky.

She tumbled to a stop next to it and with trembling fingers, opened the phone box. She lifted it off the hook and put it to her ear.

"Over here!" A man's rough voice shouted, and Leah saw one tear around the corner. He'd be here in thirty seconds.

She tried the door, but it wouldn't budge. She threw her weight against it, but nothing.

"Oh, come on!" She screamed. "Open!" Her cries gave way to heaving sobs as she pushed on the doors.

The man was a few seconds away, his scowl pasted onto his face. His buddies were right behind him, and one carried a long blade in one hand.

"Please!" Leah screamed at the box desperately, pressing against the wood, and the doors flew open.

She toppled in, and the doors slammed shut behind her. She sat on a cold surface, the knocking on the door forgotten completely. Her lips emitted a gasp before she could press them together. Her stomach rolled a little with adrenaline.

It was bigger. Bigger…on the inside. Everything glowed and swirled and the domed ceiling was made of a brilliant copper-gold metal.

"What?" A man's voice said, and Leah jumped. Her hands were still shaking as she stared at him.

He had brown hair that stuck up, and deep soulful brown eyes. He was thin and tall and good-looking, but Leah hardly noticed.

"It's bigger. On the inside."

"What?"

"B-but it's a police box."

"What?"

"This-this isn't possible. It isn't!"

"How did you get in?"

The doors rattled, and Leah flinched away from them.

"Oh, come away. You don't need to worry. A few humans can't get through TARDIS doors."

Leah stood up on weak legs and walked up the couple stairs to the main platform.

"I'm surprised she let you in at all. She hasn't been in the best of moods lately."

The man scrutinized her closely. "What are you running from?"

"Well, um, I was running and I saw these two strange men-" Leah spilled everything she'd seen to this strange man, who just listened attentively. She wasn't sure why, but something about the way he acted made her want to trust him. And she didn't trust easily.

"This snake thing-"

"You probably think I'm crazy."

"Oh no, I think you're brilliant! Following those men like that. What do you think the snake was?"

Leah laughed a little. "It sounds insane, but with all the weird stuff going on; the spaceships over London and stuff, could it be an alien?"

"Oh, almost certainly."

"How do you know?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor? Doctor Who?"

The man smiled as though he had gotten the question a thousand times. "Just the Doctor. And you are?"

"Leah." Leah attempted a smile. "Leah Davis."

"Well, Leah Davis," The Doctor moved closer to her, "you have fantastic hair! I mean, really fantastic!" His hands moved through her curls, and she found herself trying not to smile at his giddiness. "Almost as fantastic as mine. And you don't need to worry. I'll fix up our little alien situation. You can stay here until I get back."

"I want to go with you." Leah said. She didn't care who this Doctor was, or that he was kind of really good-looking, or that he was now holding a glowing metal stick-instrument thing.

"Humans! You go blundering into the worst sort of trouble. And you enjoy it."

"You talk about us as if you weren't one yourself." Leah said, and the Doctor glanced at her quickly before looking away.

Leah's eyes widened. "Oh." She said, looking at her feet.

"I'm not."

"I got that." There was an uncomfortable silence as the Doctor rummaged around with something. Leah got the feeling he was just trying to look busy.

"But I still want to come with you. They mentioned children, and I'm not letting any kids get sacrificed to a alien." Leah said to him, and he grinned.

"Alright then. Allons-y!" The Doctor said.

"Do you say that a lot? Allons-y?"

"Yes." The Doctor said as he peered out the doors.

"They're still there. Stubborn, foolish, little men." He said before looking at Leah.

"You probably want to shower or something." He said dismissively.

"You can't possibly have a shower."

The Doctor smiled, leading her behind the haphazard control panel. There was a door, and he opened it.

"Walk down the hall, turn right, turn left, turn two rights and another left, sixteenth door on your right."

Leah began walking while trying to remember the directions the Doctor gave her.

She reached the shower after about twenty minutes of wandering. She headed inside and was happy to find a normal shower, with shampoo and soap and hot water. She got in and turned it on.

It was only then that she realized what she was doing. She was on a spaceship that was bigger on the inside, disguised as a police box, with an alien who looked human called the Doctor, preparing to fight an alien who ate children.

She leaned against the wall and took deep breaths. Her heart was racing a thousand miles per minutes. She could hear it thundering in her ears. But she had wanted some excitement in her life, and she had gotten this, so she might as well deal with it.

As she got out, she noticed something she hadn't before. A shirt was tossed over the towel rack. A woman's shirt. Leah grabbed the shirt and looked at it. Was she just the first in a long line of women to "stumble across" the box? What did he call it, the TARDIS?

She changed back into her clothes and headed back to the main room. The Doctor was there, staring at a screen. He looked sad, but Leah couldn't imagine why.

"I'm back." She said quietly.

"Excellent! It's dark. We can go now." The Doctor stepped out, and Leah realized he was wearing red Converse with his blue suit. He was eccentric for sure.

Leah followed him cautiously out into the night air. It was cold, but he hardly seemed to notice. He just walked briskly ahead, his long legs stretching farther than Leah's could. She picked up her pace.

"So, do people stumble across your box often?" She asked.

"Occasionally it happens."

"I found someone's clothes in the bathroom."

The Doctor's face fell slightly, but he covered it up before Leah could study it closely.

"Those were my friend's."

"What happened to your friend?"

"What is it with the world lately? Everyone I meet seems to think I use my TARDIS for abducting people." The Doctor said indignantly.

"It's called being careful. What's a TARDIS?"

"It stands for time and relative dimension in space."

"So…"

"It's a spaceship, kinda sort of not really."

"Thank you for that stunning explanation."

The Doctor gave Leah a look saying that he didn't appreciate her sarcasm.

They continued on in silence.

"This is the one." Leah told the Doctor, who tried the door.

"Locked." He took out the glowing stick and pointed it at the door. Leah heard the lock click and the door swung open.

"How-how did you-what is that?" She sputtered.

"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor pocketed it and continued inside.

Leah followed cautiously.

"Turn left, no, sorry, right." She whispered to him, and he did so.

She continued giving him pointed directions until they reached the cavern.

No one was there. Not a single one of the men was there. It was nearly pitch black when Leah heard a clink.

She stared towards the source of the sound and squinted. As her eyes adjusted, it became clear what the clinking was.

Four children were chained to each other. They were surprisingly silent, but Leah's heart tightened at the sight.

The Doctor pointed at the children, and Leah nodded. She crept towards them. Her hand touched the first chain and she jumped back, pressing a hand to her mouth as the metal glowed blue.

"Foolish girl." An alien voice hissed.

"They are psychically linked to me. Nothing can stop the process." Leah grabbed a stick propped against the wall.

"You may address me." The Doctor called out seriously.

"Who am I addressing?" The creature mimicked his tones, and its head rose out of the pit.

The Doctor grinned, and Leah looked at him. How could he be grinning? The alien, oh god, she felt crazy for even thinking the word in a realistic way, looked like a basilisk out of Harry Potter. Its yellow eyes blinked maliciously at him.

"You are magnificent, you are. I take it you're draining the imaginations of the children."

"Yesss."

"Brilliant!"

"Who are you?!"

"The Doctor."

"Is that supposed to frighten me?"

"Yes."

"Who are you, Doctor?" The creature hissed.

The Doctor paused, staring at the creature. "I am from a planet, long since gone. No doubt you've heard of it."

"The name of this planet?"

"Gallifrey."

The snake hissed, recoiling, and Leah glanced around. The chain led to a glowing blue rope trailing up to the snake, and she looked at the stick she held. At second glance, it wasn't a stick at all. It was a thick machete.

"Time Lord!" The snake said, and its tail whipped out of the water. It wrapped around the Doctor's leg, lifting him high out of the air.

"I have waited for centuries for this night, the night of my rising. And you would ruin it all, decimate me, but I will not let you." The creature began squeezing the Doctor, who gasped in pain.

Leah plucked up all her courage. "Oi!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, and the snake looked at her.

"Let him go or I'll cut the line!" She threatened bravely.

The creature let out a series of hisses, and Leah realized it was laughing.

"You couldn't kill me! You, little lonely Leah Davis, who is late for an appointment with her brother dearest."

Leah's jaw dropped. "How did you-"

"Don't listen to it, Leah! It's reading your mind!" The Doctor shouted, and the alien squeezed tighter.

"Poor, helpless Leah. Couldn't save her brother, could she? You were only ten, of course you couldn't."

"No." Leah exhaled.

"And then your father left, didn't he? He never loved you, or he would've stayed."

"Stop."

"You are worthless! You are unimportant and unneeded! Do you really think you can change the world?" The snake seemed to shout.

"No one understands that kind of loneliness, the feeling that you are so unwanted, with no one left. You'll always be the one with that gaping empty feeling."

Leah lowered the machete and looked at the Doctor. He looked back pleadingly, his eyes big. If she gave up now, he would die, and she would die, and these children would die.

"But I'm not alone." She said, and the creature paused.

"I've always had my mom, and Dakota. They've always been there. And sure, I'm not important, but this is my chance to do something, isn't it?" Leah looked at the Doctor again and realized what that sad look in his eyes was.

"And you know what," she said, "I think I've finally found someone who gets how lonely life can really be."

The creature growled, the deep sound echoing.

"I will kill you and your Doctor! And on my way to those children, I will slither over your cold corpse!"

Leah narrowed her eyes. "Good luck with that."

She turned and swung down. The machete struck the glowing blue rope, and it flickered. The snake screamed, and she hit it again and again and again. Each time, the snake screamed louder. It snapped, and she heard the sound of a heavy body hitting the floor.

The Doctor groaned, and she spun on her heels. He stood up, flexing his back.

Leah looked at the dead body of the alien before hearing a cry. She turned to see the children moving. Tears ran down their faces.

"It's okay, I got you." She said, removing the too-big chains from their wrists. A toddler clasped onto her leg, and she lifted him up.

"Doctor!" She called out, and he hurried over.

"Take him." She handed him the toddler.

"What do I do with him?"

"Just, hold him." Leah took out her phone. "I'm calling the police."

"Um, Leah? Hurry!"

Leah called the police and told them everything.

They herded the kids outside, and within a few minutes, the police arrived. It took forever for them to finally leave.

"It's weird, but I feel almost guilty for killing him." Leah said as they walked away.

"That was a girl."

"What!"

"It's hard to tell with some species."

Leah laughed, and the Doctor smiled.

She checked her phone. The time read 8:48.

"Oh, no, no, no." She said, running her hands through her hair.

"What?"

"I'm late. It closes in twelve minutes." Leah said.

"What? What does?" The Doctor asked.

"North London Cemetery." She said, and he stopped.

"Oh, I'll get you there." He said.

"It's miles away."

The Doctor grabbed her shoulder. "I'll get you there, I promise."

Leah stepped inside the TARDIS, and the Doctor ran to the control panel. He began pressing buttons and flipping switches, using his foot at one point to hold something down.

"And we're off!" He said, grinning giddily, and Leah felt the floor jerk. She grabbed a railing and held on tightly as the machine shook violently.

A few seconds later, the shuddering stopped. The Doctor threw open the doors, and Leah stepped out. She froze.

"How did you…that's amazing!" She exclaimed. The cemetery was across the street. She ran across quickly, reaching for the gate. She tugged on it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Scoot." The Doctor said, and Leah moved out of the way as he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the lock.

It fell off, and she pushed open the gate.

"Who is it?" The Doctor asked as she made her way through the gravestones. She knew exactly where she was going.

"My, um, my brother. The alien mentioned him." Leah said with difficulty. She reached the headstone and looked down at it.

"Cancer." She told the Doctor. "I was ten. He was sixteen. My dad left a few months after. He couldn't handle it. We were really close. It took me most of high school to stop hating myself for it. Well, you heard that alien in there."

"Was that all true? Do you feel that way?"

"Sometimes." Leah nodded. "Sometimes I feel so alone, and I want to be with someone who loves me, but at the same time, I want to be alone so I can't get hurt."

She smiled without wanting to. "I've never told anyone that before. Funny."

The Doctor stood silently behind her as she looked at the grave. He let her stand there and be with her brother. It had been nine years, and it still hurt a little, like a little thorn in her side.

They made their way back to the TARDIS.

"What does happen now, Doctor?" Leah asked him.

"Well, I can take you home."

"Oh." Leah didn't sound enthusiastic, even to herself.

"Or…" The Doctor shot her a sideways glance, "you could come with me."

Leah stared at him, dumbstruck. "Me? But I'm nobody."

"Of course you're somebody!" The Doctor said with a smile.

Leah hesitated. Half of her wanted to, and the other half was on the brink of wanting.

"The other girl, your friend. What was her name?"

The Doctor's eyes got dark. "Her, well, her name was Rose." His voice caught a little.

"Is she safe?"

"Yes."

Leah bit her lip. "I, I just…"

"No, it's fine. Forget it." The Doctor said, turning away.

"Wait, Doctor!" Leah said, and he looked back.

"Is it always like this?"

He nodded unhappily as though he knew what she was going to say.

"I dunno about you, but I'm up for an adventure." Leah said with a smile, and slowly, a surprised smile spread across his entire face, up into his eyes.

She grinned, stepping up to the TARDIS.

"I think I might have forgotten to mention one small detail." The Doctor said.

"What's that?"

"It travels in time."

Leah stared around the interior.

"That is, that is..."

"Brilliant?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

The Doctor jumped up to the controls, and Leah followed.

"Where to first?" He asked.

"How about my house, so my mom doesn't freak out?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Fair enough."

They took off.

When Leah stepped out, she faced her flat's front door. She opened it and stepped inside, the Doctor right behind her.

"Mom?" She called out, and she heard a gasp.

"Leah, where have you been? You said you'd be home by five, and it's nine! I was about to call the police." Fran bustled around the corner.

"Hey, Dakota." Leah said to her best friend since primary school, who lounged on the couch. Her mom wrapped her arms around her.

"Mom, I'm fine." Leah said.

"Who's that?" Dakota asked. She stood up, her lithe body unfolding slowly. Dakota was, literally, a supermodel. Leah felt a slight pang of jealousy but brushed it away.

"This is the, um, the Doctor." Leah said awkwardly.

"Oh, you're a doctor, are you?" Dakota asked, smiling. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair

"Dakota, you're engaged." Leah said with a joking smile.

"I wasn't flirting."

"You're always flirting."

Her mom sized up the Doctor. "I have dinner on the table." She said suspiciously.

"Um, I'm not staying for dinner." Leah said. "Actually, I'm kinda leaving."

Her mom narrowed her eyes. "For?"

"I'm gonna, go outside." The Doctor backed out and closed the door, leaving Leah on her own.

"Handsome." Dakota said.

"Do you mind not doing this again?"

"Not at all. I'm happy you finally met someone."

"It's not like that." Leah said.

"What do you mean _exactly_ when you say you're leaving?" Her mom said icily.

"You might want to sit down." Leah said to her friend and mom, and they both did.

"Remember all the weird alien stuff that's been going on the past few years? Well," Leah launched into a story of all that had happened to her that day. She glossed over the dangerous bits, but she didn't miss Fran's widening eyes or Dakota's frown.

"Are you insane?" Dakota asked.

"Sweetie, I don't think-" Her mom began.

"I'm leaving. You can't change my mind." Leah said before glancing at the door.

"I want to do something with my life, Mom. If I'm honest with myself, the chances of me publishing a novel are one in a million. I want to have an adventure. I'll be okay."

Fran sighed. "Can he guarantee you'll come back?"

Leah nodded. She wasn't sure it was the truth. "I'm coming back. I swear."

"I still think you're crazy. He's not even human. We need you here." Dakota said stubbornly.

"Nah, you don't." Leah shrugged. "You have Dave, and your wedding. You're starting a family. And I'll always be there, but right now, you don't need me."

Dakota seemed ready to object before she sighed. "I'm not gonna win this argument, am I?"

"No."

"Fine." Dakota said. "But you better come back a lot. I don't care what you do or where you go, but you better visit."

Leah laughed. "Promise."

They packed a duffel bag for her, and she slung it over her shoulder.

"Bye." She said to her mom as she was wrapped in a hug. She pretended not to notice the tears in her mom's eyes.

"Bye, sweetheart." Fran said.

Leah and Dakota hugged each other tightly.

"The wedding is in June and you're the maid-of-honor, so if you aren't back, I'm flying up there in a rocket and coming to find you." Dakota said threateningly.

She looked at the Doctor, who still stood there awkwardly.

"Bring her back in one piece, Doc." Leah winced at the nickname.

"Yes, well, we'd best be off." He said.

"See you soon!" Leah waved one last time before stepping into the TARDIS.

"Sorry about the domestic." She told the Doctor.

"No, it's no trouble. It's better that they know. Last time something went wrong...well, let's just say I brought her back 12 months later instead of 12 hours. Rather embarrassing."

Leah winced. "Yeah, please don't do that to me."

The Doctor beamed at her from the opposite side of the control panel. "Where to first; past or future?"

Leah thought about it for a second. "Oh, how about the future?"

"I know a planet where people can go on safaris with dinosaurs?"

"Like, Jurassic Park?"

"Oh, you've heard of it?"

Leah laughed. "I was talking about the movie. I'm guessing it's run by humans."

"It is, actually. Great tourist trap."

"Then let's go." Leah said, and the Doctor pressed a button.

"Allons-y!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, I'll admit it, I couldn't wait to post a new chapter. But from now on, every Friday. I might fall behind, so be forewarned. **

**Thanks to my reviewers and followers, it means so much.**

**Please review and enjoy!**

"No."

"It's true."

"But that's not possible. You're so old"

"Oi! The Face of Bo is billions of years old."

"The what?"

"Never mind."

"But you look, thirty. Thirty-five? You can't be 905."

The Doctor smiled. "But I am."

"Bit of an age-gap there." Leah joked.

The TARDIS landed, and the Doctor checked the scanner.

"I feel like going to the hospital." He remarked suddenly.

Leah had been traveling with the Doctor for a couple days, been to Jurassic Pack in real life, almost been eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and barely escaped the planet with the other humans. She knew about his two hearts, and the TARDIS being alive, and now his age. She knew he avoided talking about his past, Rose, and that he was spontaneous, brilliant, and completely mad. And she wasn't homesick in the slightest. She had adjusted to his strange whims, but this one seemed to make no sense.

"Sorry?"

"Something's going to happen at the Royal Hospital. I don't know what. Want to come?"

Leah shrugged. "Where do we start?"

The Doctor grinned.

They walked into the hospital on foot.

"H2O scoop, oh. That's interesting." The Doctor remarked as they walked in.

"Um, Doctor, the problem with hospitals is that they tend to check your heart."

"But it's an H2O scoop!" He wheedled.

Leah gave him a quizzical glance.

"Oh, it's very complicated. You wouldn't understand. Basically, the hospital's been targeted for being removed from Earth."

"And we're going along for the ride, I'm guessing."

"Exactamundo!" The Doctor said, and Leah winced.

"Don't let me say that EVER again." He said emphatically, and Leah nodded.

"Not a problem."

The next day, the Doctor was still in the hospital. Leah stayed next to his bed through the night to entertain him. The next morning, she had fallen asleep. The Doctor shook her awake. She blearily focused on the group of medical students approaching.

"Now then, Mister Smith, a very good morning to you. Ms Davis, good morning. How are you today?" The head doctor asked.

"Oh, not so bad. Still a bit, you know, blah." The Doctor said.

"John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me." The head doctor said to a young woman. She moved closer, taking off her stethoscope. Leah waited anxiously for a gasp of amazement.

"That wasn't very clever, running around outside, was it? I can't believe you let him." Ms Jones said to Leah, who furrowed her eyebrows and exchanged a confused glance with the Doctor.

"Sorry?" The Doctor asked.

"On Chancellor Street this morning? You came up to me and took your tie off. And then she put it on." Jones looked at Leah.

"Really? What did I do that for?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know, you just did."

"Not me. I was here, in bed. Ask the nurses."

"We were here all night." Leah chimed in.

"Well, that's weird, cause it looked like you. Have you got a brother?"

The Doctor made a face like he was thinking hard. "No, not any more. Just me."

"As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Miss Jones." The head doctor said, and Leah was tempted to glare at him.

"Sorry. Right." Ms Jones said, taking the stethoscope. She placed it on the right side and listened. Leah saw the confused look on her face as she moved it to the other side. Leah saw the Doctor wink at her as she straightened and met Leah's hazel eyes.

Leah looked at her pleadingly as the head doctor said, "I weep for future generations. Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?"

"Er, I don't know." Ms. Jones said, and Leah relaxed. "Stomach cramps?"

"That is a symptom, not a diagnosis. And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart." The head doctor said, grabbing a clipboard. Leah saw an electric spark fly from the metal to his hand, and he dropped the board.

"That happened to me this morning." Ms. Jones said.

"I had the same thing on the door handle." A male intern said.

"And me, on the lift." Another commented.

"That's only to be expected. There's a thunderstorm moving in and lightning is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by. Anyone?" The head doctor asked.

"Benjamin Franklin. " The Doctor and Leah said simultaneously.

"Correct." The head doctor said.

"My mate, Ben. That was a day and a half. I got rope burns off that kite, and then I got soaked." The Doctor said, and the head doctor smiled patronizingly.

"Quite."

"And then I got electrocuted." The Doctor said with a cringe.

"Moving on." The head doctor spun, his group of interns following. The Doctor smiled at Ms. Jones and she smiled back. Leah just caught the head doctor say, "I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric."

She began snickering with the Doctor silently.

A half-an-hour later, it began raining.

"It's pouring." Leah said.

"H2O scoop." The Doctor said, and he stood up, grabbing a dressing gown from Leah's vacant chair.

They walked out of the room, heading down the hall. The Doctor looked ridiculous with his bare feet and dressing gown, and Leah wasn't much better. Her curls twirled every-which-way.

She looked out a window and gasped.

"Doctor!"

"I know."

"But it's raining up."

"I told you, it's an H2O scoop, now come on." The Doctor said, and Leah hurried to catch up.

"You could've warned me."

"Oh, but you're such a roll-with-the-punches kind of person."

Leah rolled her eyes as the Doctor quickened his pace again.

They got into a room and the entire hospital quaked. The Doctor caught Leah as she stumbled, and she smiled up at him.

"Thanks."

"I should probably warn you-" He began to say over the sound of lightning, but it faded away quickly. Leah's mouth dropped open.

"-that we're on the moon?" She asked. She began to hear screaming and sobbing, but she was caught up in the moment.

"Yep. Bit too late on that one, sorry." The Doctor ruffled his hair, and Leah had the impulse to run her hands through it. He had _really_ great hair.

"Oh," Leah grinned, "this is amazing. I've always wanted to go to the moon. This is, this is," she laughed.

"I know. The only problem is what comes after." The Doctor said, and he pulled a curtain, as Ms. Jones and another intern rushed inside the room.

"It's real. It's really real. Hold on." Ms. Jones reached to open the window.

Leah watched curiously.

"Don't! We'll lose all the air." The intern said, sobbing.

"But they're not exactly air tight. If the air was going to get sucked out, it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?" Ms. Jones asked.

"Very good point." The Doctor came out, completely changed. "Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?"

"Martha."

"And it was Jones, wasn't it? Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing?"

"We can't be." The other intern cried.

"Obviously we are, so don't waste my time. Martha, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda, or…?" The Doctor asked.

"By the patients' lounge, yeah." Martha answered.

"Fancy going out?" The Doctor asked.

"Okay."

"We might die." The Doctor said.

"We might not." Martha said.

"Good." The Doctor said approvingly. "Come on. Not her, she'd hold us up." He rushed out.

"How come she gets a warning that we might die, and when you take me to real-life Jurassic Park, all I got was a face full of dinosaur?" Leah asked.

"She's normal."

"I'm normal."

"No, you're not." The Doctor said incredulously. "What gave you that idea?"

They reached the doors to the balcony, and the Doctor and Leah hesitated.

With unspoken agreement, they pushed them open.

"We've got air. How does that work?" Martha asked.

"Just be glad it does." The Doctor said, looking out over the moon. Leah breathed in deeply and admired the sight.

"I've got a party tonight. It's my brother's twenty-first. My mother's going to be really, really-" Martha caught her breath.

"You okay?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah."

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

"Want to go back in?"

"No way." Martha scoffed. "I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same, it's beautiful."

"Do you think?" The Doctor asked with a smile.

"How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are." Martha said.

"Standing in the Earthlight."

"Did you just-?" Leah asked.

"Oh yes."

"What do you think happened?" Martha asked.

"What do you think?" The Doctor asked.

"Extraterrestrial. It's got to be. I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded mad, but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben, Christmas, those Cybermen things." Martha said. Leah remembered each of the times when aliens had caused panic.

"I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home." Martha said sadly.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said after a few heartbeats.

"Yeah."

"I was there, in the battle."

Martha straightened. "I promise you, Mister Smith, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way."

"It's not Smith. That's not my real name." The Doctor said.

"Who are you, then?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Me too, if I can pass my exams. What is it then, Doctor Smith?"

"Just the Doctor."

"How do you mean, just the Doctor?"

"Just the Doctor."

"What, people call you the Doctor?"

The Doctor gave her a glance. "Yeah."

"Well, I'm not. As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title."

"Um, I'm Leah, if anyone's wondering." Leah said, and Martha looked at her.

"Are you his girlfriend?"

Leah blushed. "No. Just his…companion."

"What, like a consort?"

"No!" The Doctor said loudly.

"We're just friends. I travel with him." Leah explained.

"There must be some sort of-" The Doctor said, throwing a rock out over the moon. Ripples went through the air.

"Forcefield keeping the air in." He finished.

"But if that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got. What happens when it runs out?" Martha asked.

"How many people in this hospital?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know. A thousand?"

"One thousand people, suffocating."

"Why would anyone do that?"

Leah heard a roar. "Head's up! Ask them yourself." The Doctor said.

Three massive cone-shaped spaceships were landing on the moon. They lowered slowly, and Rayne felt the ground shake. She squinted, and saw lines of marching aliens coming out of the bases.

"Aliens. That's aliens. Real, proper aliens." Martha said, sounding dazed.

"That was pretty much my reaction first time I saw one." Leah said to her.

"Judoon." The Doctor said ominously.

They sprinted down the stairs to the first floor. The Doctor halted at a good place to watch the goings-on.

"Oh, look down there, you've got a little shop. I like a little shop." The Doctor said.

"Never mind that! What are Judoon?" Martha asked.

"They're like police. Well, police for hire. They're more like interplanetary thugs." The Doctor said.

"And they brought us to the moon?" Martha asked as Leah watched.

"Well, the moon is neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated it. That rain, lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop." The Doctor said.

"What are you on about, galactic law? Where'd you get that from? If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?" Martha asked.

"No, but I like that. Good thinking. No, I wish it were that simple. They're making a catalogue. That means they're after something non human, which is very bad news for me." The Doctor told her.

"Why?" Martha asked, and the Doctor looked at her before focusing on the Judoon again.

"Oh, you're kidding me. Don't be ridiculous." Martha said, and Leah stared at her.

"Stop looking at me like that." Martha told her.

"Come on then." The Doctor said, standing up.

"He's not really-" Martha asked.

"He has two hearts, Martha. You heard them." Leah said, running after the Doctor.

"Is it always like this?" She asked.

"Pretty much, yeah."

They reached a computer, and the Doctor began working, using the screwdriver.

"They've reached third floor." Martha announced. "What's that thing?"

"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor answered.

"Well, if you're not going to answer me properly."

"No, really, it is. It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic. Look." The Doctor sounded hurt, but Leah was holding back a laugh.

"What else have you got, a laser spanner?" Martha said incredulously.

"I did, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman. Oh, this computer! The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon. Because I was just travelling past. I swear we were just wandering. We weren't looking for trouble, honestly, we weren't, but I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that's a plasma coil. Been building up for two days now, so I checked in. I thought something was going on inside. It turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above." The Doctor blurted out at top speed.

"But what were they looking for?" Martha asked.

"Something that looks human, but isn't."

"Like you, apparently." Leah could tell Martha still didn't really believe it.

"Like me. But not me."

"Haven't they got a photo?"

"Well, might be a shape-changer."

"Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?"

"If they declare the hospital guilty of harboring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."

"What, what?" Leah asked.

"All of us?"

"Oh yes. If I can find this thing first. Oh! You see, they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever." The Doctor exclaimed.

"Anyway to retrieve the files?" Leah asked.

"I don't know."

"What are we looking for?" Martha asked.

"I don't know. Say, any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up." The Doctor turned back to the computer.

"Just keep working. I'll go ask Mister Stoker. He might know." Martha disappeared.

"What did you mean earlier, when you said I'm not normal?" Leah asked.

"It takes a lot of person to actually take my offer. You know, a lot of, oh, what's the word, heart. You have a lot of, uh, heart."

"I've restored the back-up." The Doctor said, and Martha barged in.

"I found her!" She shouted breathlessly.

"You did what?" The Doctor asked, and a man in leather wearing a motorcycle helmet kicked down the door.

"Run!" The Doctor shouted, grabbing Leah's hand and pulling her along with him.

They dashed into a room, and the Doctor locked the door.

"When I say now, press the button!" He shouted at Martha and Leah.

"But I don't know which one!" Martha yelled. There was a bang at the door.

"Then find out!" The Doctor shouted, and Martha grabbed the operation manual.

The door fell open.

"Now!" The Doctor screamed, and Leah slammed her fist into a large, yellow button.

The leather-clad man fell to the floor as a massive burst of light filled the room.

"What did you do?" Martha asked.

"Increased the radiation by five thousand per cent. Killed him dead." The Doctor said.

"Won't that kill you though?" Leah asked.

"Nah, it's only roentgen radiation. We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out. I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it." The Doctor furrowed his brow. "If I concentrate, I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go." He began hopping on one foot. "Easy does it. Out, out, out, out, out. Out, out. Ah, ah, ah, ah! It is, it is, it is, it is, it is hot. Hold on." He grabbed his shoe and yanked it off, tossing it in a bin.

"Done." He announced.

"You're…completely mad." Martha said.

"You're just figuring that out?" Leah asked.

"You're right. I look daft with one shoe." The Doctor took the other and threw it into the bin as well. "Barefoot on the moon."

"So what is that thing? And where's it from, the planet Zovirax?" Martha asked jokingly as Leah looked at the completely leather man.

"It's just a Slab. They're called Slabs. Basic slave drones. See? Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish." The Doctor said.

"But it was that woman, Miss Finnegan. It was working for her, just like a servant." Martha said.

"My sonic screwdriver." The Doctor said, sounding as though he had broken his favorite toy. Leah looked at the fried screwdriver.

"She was one of the patients, but-"

"Oh, no. My sonic screwdriver."

"She had a straw like some kind of vampire!"

"I loved my sonic screwdriver!"

"Doctor!" Martha and Leah said at the same time.

"Sorry." The Doctor tossed the screwdriver behind him before grinning. "You called me Doctor."

"Anyway? Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mister Stoker's blood." Martha told him.

"That's…revolting." Leah said.

"Funny time to take a snack. You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless. No. Yes, that's it. Wait a minute. Yes! Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it!" The Doctor said, getting his face where he knew something no one else did. "If she can assimilate Mister Stoker's blood, mimic the biology, she'll register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!"

He grabbed onto Leah's hand again and yanked her along. They hid in a doorway, Martha following. Leah heard the squeak of leather and saw another Slab walking past.

"That's the thing about Slabs. They always travel in pairs." The Doctor said distastefully.

"What about you two?" Martha asked.

"What about us what?" The Doctor said.

"Well, are you two both aliens, which I don't believe, by the way? Or are you a human along for the ride?" Martha asked.

"I'm a human."

"Oh, humans. We're stuck on the moon running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, you're asking personal questions? Come on." The Doctor stood up.

"I like that. Humans. I'm still not convinced you're an alien." Martha said as they walked around a corner.

"Non-human." A deep voice said, and Leah froze as they faced a line of Judoon.

"Oh my God, you really are." Martha said.

"And again." The Doctor turned and ran the other direction.

"They've done this floor. Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky." The Doctor said. Leah noticed that it was getting harder to breathe already.

"How much oxygen is there?" Martha asked the intern who was freaking out before.

"Not enough for all these people. We're going to run out." She answered.

"How are you feeling? Are you all right?" The Doctor asked Martha.

"I'm running on adrenaline." Martha said.

"Welcome to my world." The Doctor said before glancing at Leah.

"You're alright?" He asked her.

"I'm fine."

"What about the Judoon?" Martha asked.

"Nah, great big lung reserves. It won't slow them down. Where's Mister Stoker's office?" The Doctor said.

"It's this way." Martha pointed, and they walked to the door.

"She's gone. She was here!" Martha said, and Leah looked at the dead body. It was white, and she felt slightly sick, but she didn't want to admit it.

"Drained him dry. Every last drop. I was right. She's a plasmavore." The Doctor said grimly.

"A what?" Leah asked.

"They're low-life aliens. Drink the blood of other species." The Doctor said.

"What's she doing on Earth?" Martha asked.

"Hiding. On the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all. Come on." The Doctor said.

"Wait a minute." Martha said. She bent down and closed the man's eyes.

"Think, think, think. If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?" The Doctor said, pacing. He froze almost instantly.

"Ah. She's as clever as me. Almost." He said.

There was a crash, and a scream.

"We need to move." Leah said.

"Find the non-human. Execute." A Judoon voice said.

"Martha, Leah, stay here. I need time. You've got to hold them up." The Doctor said.

"How do I do that?" Martha asked.

The Doctor glanced around. "Just forgive me for this. It could save a thousand lives. It means nothing." He said, and Martha stared at him, bewildered. "Honestly, nothing." He repeated before grabbing her by the neck and kissing her hard. He broke off, looked at Leah.

"You probably have enough traces from the TARDIS on you. Just, protect her." He said before dashing off.

"That was nothing?" Martha asked breathlessly.

"Don't let it go to your head." Leah said.

"How could I possibly let that go to my head?" Martha asked sarcastically, and Leah cracked a smile, as the Judoon got closer. She felt a little sinking feeling in her stomach.

She had felt unimportant her entire life. She knew everyone did at one point or another, but she always felt it. Overshadowed. Even now, she was the dumb one in the group. And she was sure the Doctor would ask Martha to come along for the ride.

It probably wasn't the time for this right now.

"Find the non-human. Execute." The Judoon said as they marched toward Martha and Leah.

"Now listen, I know who you're looking for. She's this woman. She calls herself Florence." Martha said as the Judoon scanned Leah.

"Human." One said, and it scanned Martha.

"Human. Wait. Non-human traits suspected. Non-human element confirmed. Authorize full scan." The Judoon said, and it pushed Martha back against the wall.

"What are you? What are you?"

"Get off her!" Leah said, and the Judoon raised its scanner. It marked Martha's hand with an X, and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Confirm human. Traces of facial contact with non-human. Continue the search." The Judoon said, and it handed Martha a booklet.

"You will need this." It said.

"What's that for?"

"Compensation."

They marched off, and Leah followed. It was becoming harder to breathe. All around, people were passing out.

The Judoon walked into a room. Leah ran in after.

"Confirmed, deceased." She heard them say, and she stopped. The Doctor, paler than normal, was lying on the floor.

"No, he can't be. Let me through. Let me see him." Martha shouted, and Leah ducked under the Judoon arms blocking her way.

"Stop. Case closed." The Judoon said as Leah kneeled by the Doctor. She propped up his head with her knees and stared with hate at the woman smiling sweetly at the Judoon.

"But it was her. She killed him. She did it. She murdered him!" Martha shouted.

"Judoon have no authority over human crime."

"But she's not human!" Martha cried.

"Oh, but I am. I've been catalogued." The woman said.

"But she's not! She assimilate-" Martha's face got brighter. "Wait a minute. You drank his blood? The Doctor's blood?" She grabbed a scanner and pointed it at the woman.

"Oh, I don't mind. Scan all you like." The woman said.

"Non-human."

"But, what?" The woman's face fell, and Leah smiled.

"Confirm analysis." The Judoon pointed their scanners at her.

"Oh, but it's a mistake, surely. I'm human. I'm as human as they come."

"He gave his life so they'd find you." Martha said, and Leah looked back down at the Doctor.

"Confirm. Plasmavore, charged with the crime of murdering the child princess of Patrival Regency Nine." The Judoon said.

"Well, she deserved it! Those pink cheeks and those blonde curls and that simpering voice. She was begging for the bite of a plasmavore!"

"Then you confess?"

"Confess? I'm proud of it! Slab, stop them!" The woman ran into the control room, and the Slab stepped forward. The Judoon shot at the Slab, and he disappeared.

"Verdict, guilty. Sentence, execution." The Judoon leader ordered.

"Enjoy your victory, Judoon, because you're going to burn with me. Burn in he-" The woman screamed as the Judoon fired their weapons as one.

"Case closed." The Judoon said.

"But what did she mean, burn with me? The scanner shouldn't be doing that. She's done something." Martha said as she knelt besides Leah.

"Scans detect lethal acceleration of monomagnetic pulse." The Judoon leader said.

"Well, do something! Stop it!"

"Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate."

"What? You can't just leave it. What's it going to do?" Martha asked frantically as Leah drew breath.

"All units withdraw." The Judoon ordered as they marched away.

"Martha, do something!" Leah begged as Martha looked at the Doctor.

Martha placed her hands over his chest. "One, two, three, four, five." She said, and she breathed into his lungs. "One, two, three, four, five." Another breath, but nothing happened.

"Two hearts!" Martha said, staring at Leah, who immediately put her hands on the other side. She was getting dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

"One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, five." Martha counted, and she took a deep breath. She breathed into the Doctor's mouth, but he didn't move. Martha collapsed slowly.

"Doctor…" Leah whispered, and he jerked up, taking in a deep breath of air.

"The scanner. She did something." Martha gasped.

"Hurry." Leah added with her last bit of air before she gave in to the pressure on her lungs and collapsed.

She woke up to the Doctor holding her.

"Doctor?"

"Leah! Oh, brilliant, you're awake."

"I thought I was going to die."

"No, not today." The Doctor grinned.

"Martha?"

"Oh she's fine. I could only carry one of you. The Judoon reversed it. We're back on Earth."

"That's good." Leah said, drifting off again.

"Can you stand?"

"I think so."

The Doctor set her down, and she stretched upward.

"You saved our lives." She told the Doctor.

"Team effort, I'd say."

Leah shrugged. "We should leave. I don't really fancy being checked over by paramedics."

"All right then. Let's be off."

"What about Martha?"

"Oh, I'm sure we'll run into her." The Doctor held out a hand, and Leah took it.

They walked out into the sunlight, and Leah smiled.

"I think I like Earth better than the moon."

"Earth's your home."

"What about your home, Doctor?" Leah asked, and he looked at her.

"I don't have a home." He said casually, but Leah could hear the sadness in his voice.

"When I was a kid, my mom used to say that the people you loved were where your home was, not some place on a map. Or a star chart. I used to think she was off her rocker, but she might be right. I dunno." Leah said, and the Doctor shrugged.

"No, you're right." He said before pointing. "There's the TARDIS. Let's go."

Leah followed as they wove between patients and ambulances.

Right before they entered the TARDIS, Leah turned around. She met Martha's eyes instantly and waved. Martha smiled.

Leah slept for hours in the room she'd claimed. When she woke up, she put on her leather jacket and headed to the control room.

"Do you ever sleep?" She asked the Doctor.

"Do you ever wake up?"

Leah sat down next to him. She knew what she should say, but she didn't want to. She still had that prickle of jealousy, the fear she'd get replaced.

"We should go back for Martha." She said.

"Maybe."

"Oh come on. One trip, that's it."

The Doctor pressed a button, and the TARDIS landed.

"We're here."

They stepped out. Martha stood across the street. They watched as her family had a row and split off, leaving her alone.

The Doctor waved, and she smiled wanly, heading over.

"I went to the moon today." Martha said.

"A bit more peaceful than down here." The Doctor said teasingly.

"You never even told me who you are."

"The Doctor."

"What sort of species? It's not every day I get to ask that."

"I'm a Time Lord."

"Right! Not pompous at all, then." Martha said jokingly, and Leah smiled.

"I just thought since you saved my life and I've got a brand new sonic screwdriver which needs road testing, you might fancy a trip." The Doctor

said.

"What, into space?" Martha asked.

"Well-"

"But I can't. I've got exams. I've got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent, I've got my family going mad." Martha said.

"If it helps, I can travel in time as well." The Doctor said.

"Get out of here." Martha said.

"I can."

"Come on now, that's going too far."

"I'll prove it." The Doctor ducked back into the TARDIS, and Leah followed.

They stepped out on a busy street.

"Wait here." The Doctor told Leah, and he walked to Martha. She couldn't make out what he said, but she saw him take off his tie. He strode back to her and they stepped back into the TARDIS.

When they walked out, Martha looked awestruck.

"Told you." The Doctor said.

"No, but, that was this morning. Did you? Oh, my God. You can travel in time. But hold on. If you could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go in to work?" Martha asked.

"Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden. Except for cheap tricks."

"And that's your spaceship?"

"It's called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

"Your spaceship's made of wood. There's not much room. We'd be a bit intimate." Martha said, and Leah leaned against the TARDIS.

_Here we go._

"Take a look." The Doctor pushed open the door, and Martha stepped inside. She stared around for a second before spinning back out.

"No, no, no." She reappeared. "But it's just a box. But it's huge. How does it do that? It's wood. It's like a box with that room just rammed in. It's bigger on the inside." The Doctor and Leah mouthed the words along with Martha.

"Is it? I hadn't noticed." The Doctor said sarcastically. "Right then, let's get going."

"But is there a crew, like a navigator and stuff? Where is everyone?" Martha asked.

"Just me. And Leah."

"Oh."

"I mean, sometimes I have guests. I mean some friends, travelling alongside. I had. There was recently, a friend of mine. Rose, her name was. Rose. And we were together. Anyway." The Doctor said. His voice sounded painful.

"Where is she now?" Martha asked.

"With her family. Happy. She's fine. She's. Not that you're replacing her!" The Doctor said warningly.

"Never said I was."

"Just one trip to say thanks. You get one trip, then back home." The Doctor said firmly.

His words made Leah wonder why she hadn't only gotten one trip. She couldn't think of why.

"You're the one that kissed me." Martha said.

"That was a genetic transfer!" The Doctor retorted.

"And if you will wear a tight suit."

"Now, don't!"

"And then travel all the way across the universe just to ask me on a date…"

"Stop it."

"For the record? I'm not remotely interested. I only go for humans." Martha said with a smirk.

"Good. Well, then. Close down the gravitic anomaliser, fire up the helmic regulator. And finally, the hand brake. Ready?" The Doctor asked. Leah felt like she had become a part of the furniture.

"No." Martha admitted.

"Off we go." The Doctor said, pulling a lever. The TARDIS took off with a jolt.

"Blimey, it's a bit bumpy!" Martha shouted.

"Welcome aboard, Miss Jones." The Doctor yelled.

"It's my pleasure, Mister Smith."

The Doctor grinned, and Leah felt her heart sink.

She was pretty sure she had been replaced. She was just one in a long line of people. She was glad to have gotten the time she'd had, but she wanted more. She was such a horrible person for feeling jealous of Martha, but she couldn't help it at all. She wanted to ask why she had been invited along in the first place, but she didn't have the guts. She was a coward, and she didn't believe the Doctor when he told her she had heart.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about being a day late! I had exams the past week and forgot about everything else. Anyways, thank you to all my reviewers and followers.**

**Enjoy and please review!**

"Where are we off to then?" Leah asked the Doctor.

"Can't ruin the surprise, can we? You'll love it though." He told her with a wide smile.

"But how do you travel in time? What makes it go?" Martha asked as they rocked from side to side.

"Oh, let's take the fun and mystery out of everything. Martha, you don't want to know. It just does." The Doctor told her, acting exasperated, but Leah knew he wasn't.

"Hold on tight!" He warned, and the TARDIS landed.

"Blimey. Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?" Martha asked.

"Yes, and I failed it." The Doctor said.

"Oh, you're a delinquent now, are you?" Leah asked.

"I can't believe you thought otherwise." The Doctor said tritely to her. "Now, make the most of it. I promised you one trip, and one trip only." He told Martha, his hand on the door. "Outside this door, brave new world."

"The Tempest. Shakespeare." Leah said.

"You got it! Brilliant." The Doctor said before pushing open the door. Leah's eyes widened.

"Oh my god."

"Where are we?" Martha asked, her lips spreading into an awestruck smile.

"Take a look. After you." The Doctor said. His hand pushed Leah out the door.

"Oh, you are kidding me. You are so kidding me. Oh, my God, we did it. We travelled in time." Martha said. "Where are we? No, sorry. I got to get used to this whole new language. When are we?"

"I would like to know where we are as well." Leah said, looking around. It was dirty, loud, smelly, and simple to say the least, but she loved it.

"Mind out!" The Doctor yelled, and he yanked Leah and Martha back as a torrent of dirty liquid splashed down.

"Gardez l'eau!" A man shouted angrily.

"Somewhere before the invention of the toilet. Sorry about that." The Doctor said distastefully.

"I've seen worse. I've worked the late night shift A & E. But are we safe? I mean, can we move around and stuff?" Martha said as the Doctor began to walk away. Leah skirted around the puddle and followed.

"Of course we can. Why do you ask?" The Doctor asked.

"It's like in the films. You step on a butterfly; you change the future of the human race." Martha said.

"Or like in Star Trek." Leah said and Martha nodded.

"Exactly.

"Tell you what then, don't step on any butterflies." The Doctor said. He turned around kept walking before stopping abruptly and looking back at them like they were crazy.

"What have butterflies ever done to you?" He asked, and they hurried after him.

"What if, I don't know, what if I kill my grandfather?" Martha asked.

"Are you planning to?" The Doctor asked.

"No."

"Well, then."

"And this is London?"

"I think so. Round about 1599."

"Oh, but hold on. Am I all right? I'm not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?" Martha asked.

"Why would they do that?" The Doctor asked.

"I dunno." Leah said sarcastically. "If it's 1599, Martha could be in trouble."

"I'm not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed." Martha said.

"I'm not even human. Just walk about like you own the place. Works for me." The Doctor said, and Leah rolled her eyes. He had such an ego.

"Besides, you'd be surprised. Elizabethan England, not so different from your time. Look over there. They've got recycling." The Doctor looked at a man shoveling manure into a bucket.

"Water cooler moment." The Doctor nodded at a couple men drinking around a bucket of beer.

"And the world will be consumed by flame!" A preacher shouted.

"Global warming." The Doctor said and Leah smiled.

"Oh, yes, and entertainment. Popular entertainment for the masses. If I'm right, we're just down the river by Southwark, right next to-"

"Southwark?" Leah asked.

"Look who's finally catching on." The Doctor beamed at her and she gaped.

"Oh, come on then!" The Doctor grabbed her hand and ran off, pulling her along behind him.

They ran around a corner, and the Doctor stopped.

"Oh, yes, the Globe Theatre! Brand new. Just opened. Through, strictly speaking, it's not a globe, it's a tetradecagon. Fourteen sides. Containing the man himself." He said proudly.

"This can't be happening." Leah said, dumbstruck. She turned to the Doctor and gave him a brief hug.

"Whoa, you don't mean. Is Shakespeare in there?" Martha asked.

"It wouldn't cause a time anomaly that could destroy the earth if we were to pop in, would it?" Leah asked.

"I don't think so, no." The Doctor held out his arms.

"Miss Davis, Miss Jones, will you accompany me to the theatre?" He asked.

"I for one would love to, dear Doctor." Leah said with a joking grin.

"Oh, Mister Smith, of course." Martha said.

"When you get home, you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare." The Doctor told her.

"Then I could get sectioned!"

Leah laughed as they headed toward the Globe.

She watched, entranced, throughout the whole performance, and at the end, she applauded raucously along with the others.

"That's amazing! Just amazing. It's worth putting up with the smell. And those are men dressed as women, yeah?" Martha asked.

"Women weren't allowed on stage." Leah said.

"London never changes." The Doctor joked.

"Where's Shakespeare? I want to see Shakespeare." Martha said.

"Author! Author! Do people shout that? Do they shout Author?" She asked.

"Author! Author!" Leah shouted.

"Author!" Another man yelled, and the whole crowd began screaming the word.

"Well, they do now." The Doctor said wryly as a man stepped out on stage.

"Is that him?" Leah asked the Doctor.

"He's a bit different from his portraits." Martha said.

That was an understatement. Shakespeare had bountiful ginger hair, blue eyes, no neck-ruff, and was, to say the least, very handsome.

"Genius. He's a genius. The genius. The most human human there's ever been. Now we're going to hear him speak. Always he chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words." The Doctor said giddily. Leah watched the man eagerly as he blew kisses at the women in the very front.

"Ah, shut your big fat mouths!" He finally shouted, and Leah frowned.

"Oh, well." The Doctor said.

"You should never meet your heroes." Martha said.

The Doctor and Leah shared a disappointed look.

"You've got excellent taste, I'll give you that. Oh, that's a wig." Shakespeare said, and the crowd roared.

"I know what you're all saying. Loves Labor's Lost, that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops. Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah, all in good time. You don't rush a genius." Shakespeare said snobbishly, and he turned to go.

Suddenly, his head jerked up, and he spun around.

"When? Tomorrow night. The premiere of my brand new play." He announced. "A sequel, no less, and I call it Loves Labor's Won!"

The crowd cheered as Leah watched in utter confusion.

"I'm not an expert, but I've never heard of Loves Labor's Won." Martha said as they walked out of the theatre.

"It's the lost play. There are rumors of it, but according to history, it just doesn't exist." Leah said.

"And no one know why." The Doctor added.

"Have you got a mini-disc or something? We can tape it. We can flog it. Sell it when we get home and make a mint." Martha said excitedly.

"Yeah, a videotape of a 14th century play when they didn't even have toilets? That'll go over well." Leah said.

"That would be bad." Martha said.

"Yeah." The Doctor said.

"Well, how come it disappeared in the first place?" Martha asked.

"Well, I was just going to give you a quick little trip in the TARDIS," The Doctor said, and Leah cast him a pleading look.

"But I suppose we could stay a bit longer." He relented.

They followed the Doctor, who was grinning like a boy, to the local inn where Shakespeare was staying. The Doctor walked into the room without knocking, and Leah took in the sight of the host, two of the actors, and William Shakespeare himself.

"Hello! Excuse me, not interrupting, am I? Mister Shakespeare, isn't it?" He asked happily.

"Oh, no. No, no, no." Shakespeare said, and Leah raised an eyebrow.

"Who let you in? No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove." He added, and Leah sighed.

Oh, the burdens of being famous.

Suddenly, Shakespeare broke into a smile. "And who are these two lovely ladies?" He asked, and Leah stared at him while Martha broke into a wide-eyed smile.

"Sit right down here next to me. You two get sewing on them costumes. Off you go." He told the actors.

"Come on, lads. I think our William's found his new muse." The host said with a charming smile.

"Sweet lady." Shakespeare said to Martha as they sat down.

"Such unusual clothes. So…fitted."

Leah smiled sheepishly.

"Er, verily, forsooth, egad." Martha said haltingly, and Leah stared at her skeptically.

"No, no, don't do that." The Doctor said to her quietly. "Don't."

He reached inside a pocket and took out a packet shaped similarly to a passport. He opened it and showed it to Shakespeare.

"I'm Sir Doctor of TARDIS and these are my companions, Miss Leah Davis and Miss Martha Jones." He said.

"Interesting, that bit of paper. It's blank." Shakespeare said with a skeptical smile.

The Doctor looked ecstatically surprised. "Oh, that's very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius!"

"No, it says so right there. Sir Doctor, Martha Jones, Leah Davis. It says so." Martha said, grabbing the paper.

"And I say it's blank." Shakespeare said.

"Psychic paper. Er, long story. Oh, I hate starting from scratch." The Doctor said disparagingly.

"That wasn't rude at all." Leah muttered.

"Psychic? Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly? More's the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?"

Leah gaped at him. She hardly cared his attention had shifted to Martha.

"What did you say?" Martha asked indignantly.

"Oops." He shrugged. "Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this." Martha looked at Leah in disbelief.

"It's political correctness gone mad." The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Er, Martha's from a far-off land. Freedonia." Leah cast him a skeptical look, and he shrugged.

"Excuse me!" An overweight, fancily-dressed man barged in, his face red with fury. "Hold hard a moment. This is abominable behavior. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mister Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed." He said haughtily.

"Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round." Shakespeare told him dismissively.

"I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine. The script, now!"

"I can't."

"Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled." The Master of the Revels said.

"It's all go around here, isn't it?" Martha muttered to Leah, who agreed.

"I'm returning to my office for a banning order. If it's the last thing I do, Love's Labors Won will never be played." The man said vindictively.

He walked out with a flourish.

"I always thought Shakespearian plays were exaggerated, but I could totally imagine a double suicide." Leah murmured to the Doctor, and the corner of his mouth quirked up.

"Well then, mystery solved. That's Love's Labors Won over and done with. Thought it might be something more, you know, more mysterious." Martha said, and Leah heard a man's scream. The Doctor jumped up and ran out the door, Leah close behind.

"Help me!" A woman screeched hysterically as they broke through the doors. The Master of Revels was staggering in the square. As Leah got closer, she noticed he was spewing water from his open mouth.

"It's that Lynley bloke." Martha said.

"What's wrong with him?" The Doctor asked.

"You don't know?" Leah asked, and Lynley collapsed.

"I don't know everything." The Doctor retorted as he pushed through the crowd. "Leave it to me. I'm a doctor."

"So am I, near enough." Martha said, and Leah watched as they made their way to him.

"Mister Lynley, come on. Can you hear me? You're going to be all right." Martha said to the unconscious man loudly. She pumped on his chest, and Leah saw water bubble out of his mouth.

"What the hell?" She asked.

"I've never seen a death like it. His lungs are full of water. He drowned and then, I don't know, like a blow to the heart, an invisible blow?" The Doctor seemed to ask. He glanced at Martha. She shook her head, and the Doctor stood, looking around for the host of the inn.

"Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humors. A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away." The Doctor said calmly.

"Yes, sir." She curtsied.

"I'll do it, ma'am." A servant girl said politely.

"And why are you telling them that?" Martha asked the Doctor quietly.

"This lot still have got one foot in the Dark Ages. If I tell them the truth, they'll panic and think it was witchcraft." The Doctor said.

"Okay, what was it then?" Martha asked, and Leah listened intently.

"Witchcraft."

"I got you a room, Sir Doctor. You, Miss Davis, and Miss Jones are just across the landing." The host of the inn, Dolly, said.

"Poor Lynley. So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?" Shakespeare said. He didn't sound too sad over Lynley's death.

"Where a woman can do what she likes." Martha answered.

"An author as well? That is most certainly not a woman's profession." Shakespeare said to Leah.

"How did you know?" She asked calmly.

"You live in thousand different lives inside your head. It makes the real world more hospitable. Less solitary."

"Writing, at it's best, is a lonely life." Leah said.

"Oh, that one's good." Shakespeare said. "May I use it?"

"It belongs to someone else."

"And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?" Shakespeare asked.

"I do a lot of reading." The Doctor answered solemnly. His face was completely still.

"A trite reply. Yeah, that's what I'd do. And you two? You look at him like you're surprised he exists. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me." Shakespeare remarked to Leah and Martha. Leah looked at Martha, and just by meeting her eyes they reached an agreement.

"I think we should say goodnight." Martha said, and Leah followed you out.

Leah looked around the room with Martha.

"Charming." She said sarcastically.

"It's not exactly five star, is it?" Martha asked the Doctor.

"Oh, it'll do. I've seen worse." The Doctor said.

"I haven't even got a toothbrush." Martha said with a flirtatious smile.

"Oh. Er." The Doctor reached into a pocket and took one out. "Contains Venusian spearmint."

"So," Martha looked around as the Doctor stretched out on the bed. "Who's going where? I mean, there's only one bed."

Leah gave her a warning look, and Martha ignored it.

"We'll manage. Come on." The Doctor patted the bed beside him.

"Leah? Come on!" He repeated.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep. Are you kidding?" Leah said with a grin. "You two take the bed."

She sat in the windowsill and watched them talk.

"So, magic and stuff. That's a surprise. It's all a little bit Harry Potter." Martha said, still standing.

"Wait till you read book seven." The Doctor teased. "Oh, I cried."

"Now, that's just not fair. No spoilers." Leah said.

"But is it real, though? I mean, witches, black magic and all that, it's real?" Martha asked.

"Course it isn't!" The Doctor said incredulously.

"Well, how am I supposed to know? I've only just started believing in time travel. Give me a break."

"Looks like witchcraft, but it isn't. Can't be. Are you going to stand there all night?" The Doctor asked her, and she grinned.

_Look who has a crush._ Leah thought, and she felt a slight little dip in her stomach.

"Budge up a bit, then." Martha sat down, a few inches away from the Doctor. "Sorry, there's not much room. Us two here, same bed. Tongues will wag." She said.

"There's such a thing as psychic energy, but a human couldn't channel it like that. Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that. No, there's something I'm missing, Martha. Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it." The Doctor said, turning towards her. She turned towards him, looking hopeful.

"Rose would know." The Doctor said, and Leah looked at him quickly.

"A friend of mine, Rose. Right now, she'd say exactly the right thing. Still, can't be helped. You're a novice, never mind. I'll take you back home tomorrow." The Doctor said, and Martha's face fell.

"Great." She said sarcastically, and she turned onto her side, blowing out the candle and plunging them in darkness.

Leah hadn't lied. She would not be able to sleep that night. She watched the stars, so much brighter than back home. Thoughts buzzed like hornets around her head. She didn't know what to expect from Shakespeare. He had known, just by looking at her, that she was a writer. The Doctor had as well. Did she just put out that sort of vibe? Or had the Doctor looked her up?

Shakespeare was right about one thing. Leah lived fantasies inside her head to make the real world more bearable. Professors marked her off for slacking and not paying attention. But since she had started traveling with the Doctor, she hadn't needed the fantasy. She was living in fiction.

A couple hours later, Leah was still awake, though just barely. She was just slumping against the icy window when a scream split apart the air.

She leapt from the windowsill, running for Shakespeare's room where she thought the scream came from.

"What? What was that?" Shakespeare shouted, and Leah froze at the sight of the fallen Dolly. The Doctor rushed past her, bending to one knee. Leah heard a cackle, and she peered out the window.

"Can't be." She said, and Martha looked over her shoulder.

"Her heart gave out. She died of fright." The Doctor told them, but Leah hardly heard. She was too busy watching the woman fly away on a broom into the sky.

"Doctor?" Martha said.

The Doctor came over. "What did you see?"

"A witch." Martha said.

"Complete with evil laughter and a flying broom." Leah added grimly.

"Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place when we all ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit." Shakespeare lamented early that morning. Dolly had long since been taken away.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light." The Doctor said solemnly.

"Do not go gentle into that good night." Leah murmured, and the Doctor's eyes brightened.

"I might use that." Shakespeare told them

"You can't. It's someone else's." The Doctor told him.

"But the thing is, Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright, and they were both connected to you." Martha said, looking at Shakespeare.

"You're accusing me?" Shakespeare asked. He didn't sound too offended.

"No, but I saw a witch, big as you like, flying, cackling away, and you've written about witches." Martha said.

"I have? When was that?" Shakespeare asked as Leah motioned for Martha to stop talking.

"Not, not quite yet." The Doctor said in Martha's ear.

"Peter Streete spoke of witches." Shakespeare said.

"The architect of the Globe?" Leah asked.

The Doctor straightened. "Oh, the architect! The Globe! Of course! Come on." He ran out of the room.

"The columns there, right? Fourteen sides. I've always wondered, but I never asked. Tell me, Will. Why fourteen sides?" The Doctor looked around the Globe curiously.

"It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all. Said it carried the sound well." Shakespeare said.

"Fourteen. Why does that ring a bell? Fourteen." The Doctor paced, looking around the arena.

"There's fourteen lines in a sonnet." Martha suggested.

"So there is. Good point." The Doctor said, but Leah knew that wasn't it.

"Words and shapes following the same design. Fourteen lines, fourteen sides, fourteen facets. Oh, my head. Tetradecagon. Think, think, think! Words, letters, numbers, lines!" The Doctor said fervently.

"This is just a theatre." Shakespeare said, a faint smile on his face.

"Oh yeah, but a theatre's magic, isn't it? You should know. Stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time. Oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy. Change them. You can change people's minds just with words in this place. But if you exaggerate that…"

"It's like your police box. Small wooden box with all that power inside." Martha said enthusiastically.

"Oh. Oh, Martha Jones, I like you." The Doctor grinned, and Leah noticed the proud look on Martha's face.

"Tell you what, though. Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?" The Doctor asked.

"You won't get an answer. A month after finishing this place, lost his mind." Shakespeare said.

"Because that's not suspicious at all." Leah said.

"What happened?" Martha asked.

"Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled." Shakespeare told them.

Leah's heart sank. "So you put him in Bedlam."

"Yes."

"We're going to go there. Right now. Come on." The Doctor said to Martha and Leah. Leah had zero desire to go, but she followed.

"Wait! I'm coming with you. I want to witness this at first hand." Shakespeare said as two young men walked in.

"Ralph, the last scene as promised. Copy it, hand it round, learn it, speak it. Back before curtain up. And remember, kid, project. Eyes and teeth. You never know, the Queen might turn up." Shakespeare told one, handing him a few pieces of parchment.

As he walked away, Leah caught him mutter, "As if. She never does."

She grinned because she knew the future.

"So, tell me of Freedonia, where women can be doctors, writers, actors…" Shakespeare asked Martha, who walked behind Leah and the Doctor.

"This country's ruled by a woman." Martha pointed out.

"Ah, she's royal. That's God's business. Though you are a royal beauty."

Leah smirked as Martha spoke again, "Whoa, Nelly. I know for a fact you've got a wife in the country."

"But Martha, this is Town." Shakespeare said, and the Doctor turned.

"Come on. We can all have a good flirt later." He told them firmly, kind of like a father scolding children, though Leah could never picture the Doctor being a father.

"Is that a promise, Doctor?" Shakespeare asked with a smirk, and Leah's mouth dropped before she punched the air.

"How did I know you would be one of those?" The Doctor asked as they resumed walking. Leah was grinning giddily.

"Four years of secondary school, and not once would my English teacher admit Shakespeare might be interested in men. Not once." She told him.

"Does my Lord Doctor wish some entertainment while he waits? I'd whip these madmen. They'll put on a good show for you. Mad dog in Bedlam." The keeper of the madhouse asked them. Leah clenched her jaw in anger.

"No, I don't!" The Doctor said angrily, his voice like steel.

"Well, wait here, my lords, while I make him decent for the lady." The keeper walked away, knocking against the prison bars with his whip as he did so. Leah crossed her arms. Her face felt unusually hot.

"So this is what you call a hospital, yeah? Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?" Martha asked indignantly.

"Oh, it's all so different in Freedonia." Shakespeare said.

"It's better. Not different." Leah said coldly.

"But you're clever. Do you honestly think this place is any good?" Martha asked him.

"I've been mad. I've lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. It serves its purpose." Shakespeare said flatly.

"Mad in what way?" Martha asked, pushing him. Leah saw him recoil into himself.

"Martha, don't." She said quietly, her voice only just able to be heard over the screams.

"You lost your son." The Doctor said.

"My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there." Shakespeare said, looking around at the black floors and dirty prisoners.

"I didn't know. I'm sorry." Martha said.

"It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence. To be or not to be." Shakespeare said. "Oh, that's quite good." He added with a half-smile.

"You should write that down." The Doctor told him.

"Maybe not. A bit pretentious?" Shakespeare asked.

"A good kind of pretentious." Leah said.

"This way, my lord!" The keeper shouted at them, and Leah followed the Doctor slowly.

"They can be dangerous, my lord. Don't know their own strength." The keeper told them as he unlocked the gate.

"I think it helps if you don't whip them. Now get out!" The Doctor snapped, and the keeper walked away slowly as Leah looked at the shivering man dressed in dirty gray rags.

"Peter? Peter Streete?" The Doctor asked.

"He's the same as he was. You'll get nothing out of him." Shakespeare said.

"Maybe he'd have gotten better if you hadn't given up on him." Leah snapped at him. He looked surprised.

"Peter? Peter, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor said gently, laying a soft hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Go into the past. One year ago. Let your mind go back. Back to when everything was fine and shining. Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It was just a story. A Winter's Tale. Let go." Peter slumped over. "That's it. That's it, just let go. Tell me the story, Peter. Tell me about the witches."

Peter began talking, his eyes flickering over the walls and the light. "Witches spoke to Peter. In the night, they whispered, they whispered. Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. Their design!" He laughed insanely. "The fourteen walls. Always fourteen. When the work was done they snapped poor Peter's wits." His voice trembled.

"Where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city? Peter, tell me. You've got to tell me, where were they?" The Doctor asked urgently.

"All Hallows Street." Peter whispered, and Leah jumped back.

An old woman appeared near the cell wall. Her hands were like old roots, all twisted and bumpy and wrinkled. Her face was much the same, extraordinarily ugly.

"Too many words." She said, and she had the perfect witch's voice. It gave Leah goosebumps.

"What the hell?" Martha asked, backing away.

"Just one touch of the heart." The woman reached for Peter, who shook harder.

"No!" The Doctor shouted, and the woman put her hand on Peter's chest. He took in a huge gasp of air and closed his eyes. Leah looked dumbstruck.

"Witch! I'm seeing a witch!" Shakespeare shouted.

"Could you be more obvious?" Leah shouted, staring at the advancing witch.

"Now, who would be next, hmm? Just one touch. Oh, oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts. Poor, fragile mortals." The woman said.

"Let us out! Let us out!" Martha screamed, banging on the bars.

"That's not going to work. The whole building's shouting that." The Doctor told her.

"Who will die first, hmm?" The woman asked.

"Well, if you're looking for volunteers." The Doctor stepped forward.

"No!" Martha and Leah shouted.

"Doctor, can you stop her?" Shakespeare asked.

"No mortal has power over me." The woman laughed.

"Oh, but there's a power in words. If I can find the right one. If I can just know you." The Doctor told her.

"None on Earth has knowledge of us."

"Then it's a good thing I'm here. Now think, think, think. Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy. Ah! Fourteen!" The Doctor shouted. "That's it! Fourteen! The fourteen stars of the Rexel planetary configuration!"

He pointed at the woman. "Creature, I name you Carrionite!"

She screamed and vanished in a blinding flash of light.

"What did you do?" Martha asked.

"I named her. The power of a name. That's old magic." The Doctor said.

"But there's no such thing as magic." Martha said.

"Well, it's just a different sort of science. You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead." The Doctor half-explained.

"Use them for what?" Shakespeare asked.

"The end of the world." The Doctor said.

"The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend." The Doctor said, pacing through Shakespeare's room.

"Well, I'm going for real." Shakespeare said.

"But what do they want?" Martha asked.

"A new empire on Earth. A world of bones and blood and witchcraft." The Doctor said.

"But how can they do that?" Leah said.

"I'm looking at the man with the words." The Doctor said.

"Me? But I've done nothing." Shakespeare protested.

"Hold on, though. What were you doing last night, when that Carrionite was in the room?" Martha asked.

"Finishing the play."

"What happens on the last page?" The Doctor asked.

"The boys get the girls. They have a bit of a dance. It's all as funny and thought provoking as usual. Except those last few lines. Funny thing is, I don't actually remember writing them." Shakespeare said, his voice becoming wondering.

"That's it. They used you. They gave you the final words like a spell, like a code. Love's Labors Won. It's a weapon. The right combination of words, spoken at the right place, with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter! The play's the thing!" The Doctor shouted. "And yes, you can have that." He added.

"All Hallows Street. There it is." The Doctor pointed at a map. "Martha, Leah, we'll track them down. Will, you get to the Globe. Whatever you do, stop that play." The Doctor said

"I'll do it. All these years I've been the cleverest man around. Next to you, I know nothing." Shakespeare told the Doctor.

"Stop complaining. You're both brilliant." Leah said.

"I'm not. It's marvelous." Shakespeare said with a grin. "Good luck, Doctor."

"Good luck, Shakespeare. Once more unto the breach." The Doctor said, and he took off, leaving the room. Leah and Martha followed.

"I like that. Wait a minute…that's one of mine!" Shakespeare exclaimed.

"Oh, just shift!" The Doctor said, poking his head back around the door.

They ran all the way to All Hallows Street. Leah was out of breath by the time they go there.

"All Hallows Street, but which house?" The Doctor asked.

"The thing is, though am I missing something here? The world didn't end in 1599. It just didn't. Look at me. I'm living proof." Martha said.

"Oh, how to explain the mechanics of the infinite temporal flux? I know. Back to the Future. It's like Back to the Future." The Doctor said.

"The film?" Martha asked, and Leah gave her a sarcastic look.

"No, the novelization. Yes, the film!" The Doctor said.

"Marty McFly goes back and changes history." He continued.

"And he starts fading away. Oh my God, are we going to fade?" Martha asked, her face afraid.

"You and the entire future of the human race. It ends right now in 1599 if we don't stop it. But which house?" The Doctor asked angrily.

Leah looked across the street as a door swung open on its own.

"I'm going with that one." She said, and they started towards it.

"I take it we're expected." The Doctor said to the young woman, who smiled coldly.

"Oh, I think Death has been waiting for you a very long time." She said sweetly.

"Right then, it's my turn." Martha stepped forward. "I know how to do this. I name thee Carrionite!" She said, pointing a finger at the woman.

The woman remained standing and smiling.

"What did I do wrong? Was it the finger?" Martha asked, completely confused.

"The power of a name works only once. Observe. I gaze upon this bag of bones and now I name thee Martha Jones." The woman said, and Martha's eyes rolled back into her head. She collapsed, and Leah just caught her. She laid her down on the floor gently.

"What have you done?" The Doctor asked furiously.

"Only sleeping, alas. It's curious. The name has less impact. She's somehow out of her time." The witch said.

"And as for you, Sir Doctor." She paused. "Fascinating. There is no name. Why would a man hide his title in such despair? Oh, but look. There's still one word with the power that aches." The woman whispered.

"The naming won't work on me." The Doctor told her angrily as Leah watched.

"But your heart grows cold. The north wind blows and carries down the distant Rose." The woman said seductively, and the Doctor got closer.

"Oh, big mistake. Because that name keeps me fighting." He said angrily.

"Doctor, don't! She wants you close to her." Leah said.

"Too true. Oh, she's a clever one. So…interesting. I can see why you keep her around, darling Doctor. You think she's like you." The witch smiled.

"But, unfortunately, I know her name as well. And I name thee Leah Davis."

Leah felt her knees get weak, and she fell before she could catch herself. She was out before she touched the ground.

She could feel herself coming too, and she looked around for the Doctor.

He was standing, looking out the window. The witch floated out the window, holding a doll in her hand.

"Now, you might call that magic. I'd call that a DNA replication module." The Doctor said. His voice was hard and fast, deathly angry.

"What use is your science now?" The woman teased, and she stabbed the doll. The Doctor let out a cry of pain and fell to his knees. The witch zoomed away, laughing.

"Doctor? Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Leah knelt beside him. She felt for a pulse. There it was, weak, but there.

"Two hearts. Come on, Doctor." She said, and Martha groaned, getting up.

"Martha, help me." Leah said, and Martha crawled over as the Doctor bolted upright.

"You're making a habit of this." He said, standing up, before panting in pain.

"I've only got one heart working. How do you people cope? I've got to get the other one started. Hit me! Hit me on the chest!" He commanded, and Martha hit him.

"Ah!" He cried in pain. "Other side." He said through gritted teeth, and Leah whacked his chest.

"Now, on the back, on the back." Martha pounded his spine. "Left a bit." Leah hit him again.

"Dah, lovely. There we go. Badda booma!" He said, straightening and heading for the door.

"Well, what are you standing there for? Come on! The Globe!" He said, looking back at the frozen Martha and Leah.

They ran outside, and Leah followed the Doctor down the street.

"We're going the wrong way!" Martha shouted.

"No, we're not!" The Doctor shouted back before screeching to a halt and turning around. "We're going the wrong way!"

They reached the Globe, and Leah slowed down.

"Doctor…"

"I know."

A red haze hung over the Globe.

"Stage door!" The Doctor pointed, and they dashed off. Leah's legs propelled her over a bag of grain as they ran to the small wooden door.

"Stop the play!" The Doctor shouted at a groggy Shakespeare backstage. "I think that was it. Yeah, I said, stop the play!"

"I hit my head." Shakespeare groaned.

"Yeah, don't rub it, you'll go bald." There was a bang, and the Doctor leaped onto the stage. "I think that's my cue!"

"Now begins the millennium of blood!" Leah heard voices screaming, and she ran across the stage.

"The Doctor. He lives. Then watch this world become a blasted heath!" The young witch, now ugly, yelled. "They come. They come!"

She held a crystal up in the air, and bat-creatures began spiraling out. They disappeared into the red smoke filling the air.

"Come on, Will! History needs you!" The Doctor pulled Shakespeare forward.

"But what can I do?" Shakespeare asked.

"Reverse it!"

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you're the wordsmith, the one true genius. The only man clever enough to do it."

"But what words? I have none ready!"

"You're William Shakespeare!"

"But these Carrionite phrases, they need such precision."

"Trust yourself. When you're locked away in your room, the words just come, don't they, like magic. Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm. Words that last forever. That's what you do, Will. You choose perfect words. Do it. Improvise." The Doctor said inspiringly.

Shakespeare seemed to take a breath. "Close up this din of hateful, dire decay, decomposition of your witches' plot. You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor tells me I am not!" He began, and Leah smiled.

"No! Words of power!" One of the Carrionites yelled.

"Foul Carrionite specters, cease your show! Between the points…" Shakespeare glanced at the Doctor.

"Seven six one three nine oh!"

"Seven six one three nine oh! Banished like a tinker's cuss, I say to thee…" He paused again.

"Expelliarmus!" Martha screamed.

"Expelliarmus!" Leah shouted.

"Expelliarmus!" The Doctor joined.

"Expelliarmus!" Shakespeare yelled.

"Good old JK!" The Doctor shouted, and Leah laughed.

"The deep darkness! They are consumed!" A Carrionite screeched at the creatures were sucked back into the vortex, along with some fluttering pages of the play.

"Love's Labors Won. There it goes." The Doctor said wistfully. The sky cleared with a clap of thunder, and Leah heard a clap. Soon, the whole audience was cheering.

"They think it was all special effects?" Martha asked.

"Your effect is special indeed." Shakespeare said.

"Oh my…" Leah said.

"It's not your best line." Martha admitted. Leah bowed to the crowd, along with Shakespeare and Martha. She was smiling from ear to ear.

The Doctor and Leah walked out of the prop storage smiling.

"Good props store back there. I'm not sure about this though. Reminds me of a Sycorax." The Doctor said, holding up a skull.

"Sycorax. Nice word. I'll have that off you as well." Shakespeare said.

"I should be on ten percent. How's your head?" The Doctor said.

"Still aching." Shakespeare admitted.

"Here, I got you this. Neck brace. Wear that for a few days till it's better, although you might want to keep it. It suits you." The Doctor said as Shakespeare put it on. The Doctor and Leah exchanged an amused look.

"What about the play?" Martha asked.

"Gone. I looked all over. Every single copy of Love's Labors Won went up in the sky." The Doctor said.

"My lost masterpiece." Shakespeare said sadly.

"You could write it up again." Martha suggested.

"Yeah, better not, Will. There's still power in those words. Maybe it should best stay forgotten." The Doctor warned.

"Oh, but I've got new ideas. Perhaps it's time I wrote about fathers and sons, in memory of my boy, my precious Hamnet." Shakespeare said.

"Wait, sorry, what?" Leah asked.

"Hamnet?" Martha asked.

"That's him."

"Ham-_net_?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Anyway," The Doctor interjected. "Time we were off. I've got a nice attic in the TARDIS where this lot can scream for all eternity, and I've got to take Martha back to Freedonia."

"You mean travel on through time and space." Shakespeare said, and Leah gaped.

"You what?" The Doctor asked. He looked as confused as Leah felt.

"You're from another world like the Carrionites, and Martha is from the future. It's not hard to work out." Shakespeare said with a shrug.

"That's incredible. You are incredible!" The Doctor exclaimed, looking at Leah excitedly.

"We're alike in many ways, Doctor." Shakespeare said. "You and me and Leah, all so similar and yet, so very, very different."

"Martha, let me say goodbye to you in a new verse. A sonnet for my Dark Lady. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate-" Shakespeare began, and Leah was about to burst out laughing when the two actors came into the theatre.

"Will!" One shouted.

"Will, you'll never believe it. She's here! She's turned up!"

"We're the talk of the town. She heard about last night. She wants us to perform it again."

"Who?" Martha asked, smiling and blushing.

"Her Majesty. She's here." One said, and Leah watched as a woman paraded in to fanfare and men carrying long spears.

"Queen Elizabeth the First!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Doctor?" Queen Elizabeth said, her face scrunching up in hate.

"What?"

"My sworn enemy!"

"What?"

"Off with his head!"

"What?" The Doctor asked, and Leah grabbed his head.

"Run, silly, run!" She said.

"See you, Will, and thanks!" Martha shouted back.

"Stop that pernicious Doctor!" The Queen shouted.

"Stop in the name of the Queen!" One of the guards behind them commanded.

"What have you done to upset her?" Martha asked.

"How should I know? Haven't even met her yet. That's time travel for you. Still, can't wait to find out." The Doctor said as they reached the TARDIS.

Leah got inside and watched the guards coming. The Doctor grinned.

"That's something to look forward to." He said, and an arrow flew. It imbedded itself in the wood, and the Doctor closed the door.

"It was nice to meet Shakespeare, in any case." He added.

"Oh yes." Leah said with a smile. "But how did you know?"

"Oh, I have my ways. Friends should know things about each other. And as you've probably heard, friendship is constant in all other things." He held out a hand.

Leah took it without question. "I have heard that somewhere, yeah." She smiled, and the Doctor pulled her toward the controls.

"Where to?" He asked.

"You decide. You're rather good at that."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! On time update this week (YES) and this chapter is pretty exciting, I think. It's not super long and it reveals a bit of why the Doctor hasn't mentioned Leah leaving where Martha only gets "one trip". So please read on.**

**Also, thank you SilverOcean01 for reviewing every chapter. It means so much and motivates my writing. Honestly, the more people enjoying my story, the better I feel it gets.**

**So enjoy and please review!**

"Just one trip. That's what I said. One trip in the TARDIS, and then home." The Doctor told Martha, who looked disappointed.

"Although I suppose we could stretch the definition. Take one trip into past, one trip into future. How do you fancy that?" He added, and Martha grinned.

"No complaints from me." She said.

"How about a different planet?"

"Can we go to yours?" Martha asked, and the Doctor stopped. He looked at her in utter surprise.

"Ah, there's plenty of other places." He said, breaking his stunned silence. Leah's eyes narrowed.

"Come on, though. I mean, planet of the Time Lords. That's got to be worth a look. What's it like?" Martha asked.

"Well, it's beautiful, yeah." The Doctor said, avoiding the subject.

"Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?"

"I suppose it is." The Doctor said after a heartbeat.

"Great big temples and cathedrals!"

"Yeah."

"Lots of planets in the sky?"

The Doctor sighed, and looked at Martha. Leah leaned forward and listened intently.

"The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow."

Leah and Martha were entranced. "Can we go there?" Martha asked.

"Nah. Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home. Instead, this is much better." The Doctor pulled a lever, and they took off. "Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth. Second hope of mankind. Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York." The TARDIS landed, and the Doctor moved to the door.

"Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built." He said.

Leah walked out into pouring rain, and glared at the Doctor.

"Oh, that's nice. Time Lord version of dazzling." Martha said sarcastically.

"Nah, bit of rain never hurt anyone. Come on, let's get under cover!" He said, and he ran towards an awning just around the corner.

"Everything seems the same." Leah remarked at him, and he took out the sonic screwdriver, pointing it at a moniter.

"And the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway." A smiling woman said. The picture showed a view of flying cars over a high-tech Manhattan.

"Oh, that's more like it. That's the view we had last time. This must be the lower levels, down in the base of the tower. Some sort of under-city." The Doctor looked around.

"You've brought me to the slums?" Martha asked.

"Much more interesting. It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city. Ah, the rain's stopping. Better and better."

"Last time?" Leah asked.

"You mean, when you and Rose came?" Martha asked bitterly.

"Er, yeah. Yeah, it was, yeah." The Doctor answered absentmindedly.

"You're taking me to the same planets that you took her?" Martha asked, and Leah ran a hand through her curls in exasperation with her friend.

"What's wrong with that?" The Doctor asked, and Leah wandered away as Martha retorted in a soft voice, "Nothing. Just ever heard the word rebound?"

The wood paneling on one of the building's swung open, and Leah stepped back as a smiling man appeared.

"Oh! You should have said. How long you been there? Happy. You want Happy." He said quickly.

"Sorry?" Leah asked, and two more of the hatches opened.

"Customers. Customers! We've got customers!" Another shouted.

"We're in business. Mother, open up the Mellow, and the Read." Yet another said loudly.

They all began offering different things, but it was weird. Happy, Angry, Mellow, Read…

"Don't go to them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?" The first man asked.

"No, thanks." The Doctor said.

"What are they selling?" Leah asked.

"I think they're selling moods." The Doctor said quietly.

"Same thing, isn't it?" Martha said.

"Over here, sweetheart! That's it, come on, I'll get you first!" A woman running a stand said gently to a small, frightened-looking woman. "Come over here, yeah. And what can I get you, my love?"

"I want to buy Forget." The woman said quietly.

"I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much do you want forgetting?"

"It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway."

"Oh, that's a swine. Try this. Forget Forty-three. That's two credits." The woman said, and the younger woman walked off.

"Sorry, but hold on a minute. What happened to your parents?" The Doctor asked her back, and she turned.

"They drove off." She answered sadly, and Leah's brow furrowed.

"Yeah, but they might…drive back."

"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them."

"But they can't have gone far. You could find them." The Doctor told her, and she sighed. She reached with her hand for her neck. In her hand she held a slip of plastic.

"No. No, no, don't." The Doctor said, but it was too late.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" The woman asked pleasantly. Leah looked at her in worry.

"Your parents. Your mother and father. They're on the motorway." The Doctor told her.

"Are they? That's nice. I'm sorry, I won't keep you." The young woman left, smiling.

"So that's the human race five billion years in the future. Off their heads on chemicals." Martha said, and Leah heard a rushing sound.

"Martha!" She shouted, and a man grabbed Martha from behind. The woman with him held a gun.

"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all." The man said loudly.

"What the hell?" Leah shouted.

"No, let her go! I'm warning you, let her go!" The Doctor shouted, and the couple backed away with Martha.

"Whatever you want, I can help. Both of us, we can help. But first you've got to let her go." The Doctor shouted.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Sorry." The woman said, and they turned and ran.

The Doctor sprinted after them, but they closed a heavy door in front of him. Leah followed as he opened the door.

"Martha!" He screamed as the floating car flew up into the sky.

Leah watched it go.

"There was nothing we could've done. We'll get her back, Doctor." She told him reassuringly.

The Doctor didn't answer. He just turned and went back the way they had come.

"Thought you'd come back." One of the drug-dealers said with a grin. "Do you want some happy Happy?"

"Those people, who were they? Where did they take her?" The Doctor asked angrily.

"They've taken her to the motorway." The man said.

"Looked like carjackers to me."

"I'd give up now, darling. You won't see her again."

"Used to be thriving, this place. You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end." The first drug-dealer told them.

"He kept on saying three, we need three. What did he mean, three?" The Doctor asked.

"It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you're carrying three adults."

"This motorway. How do I get there?"

"Straight down the alley, keep going to the end. You can't miss it. Tell you what. How about some happy Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love." The Doctor started off before turning around.

"Word of advice, all of you. Cash up, close down and pack your bags." He said coldly.

"Why's that, then?"

"Because as soon as I've found her, alive and well, and I will find her alive and well, then I'm coming back, and this street is closing tonight!" The Doctor shouted. He took off, and Leah followed.

They reached the motorway, and Leah began coughing. She moved to the edge of the platform to try to see the car. But they all looked the same. There were thousands of them, all waiting.

Leah coughed violently, the door next to her slid open.

"Grab her!" A rough voice shouted, and a couple hands grabbed Leah.

"Doctor!" She shouted, and he ran towards her.

"Pull her in! Hurry!" Another man shouted, and Leah struggled against the arms pulling her back. Her lungs were filling with the noxious gas.

The Doctor reached for her, but she couldn't quite grab his hands.

The man holding Leah heaved back, and she toppled away from the Doctor.

"Leah!" She heard him scream as the door swung closed. She breathed in the fresh oxygen.

"Are you okay?" The voice asked her, and she flinched into the door.

"I am not okay! I am so very far from okay! Take me back!" She shouted at the two men, who looked at her.

"This is car 237 diamond 5, three passengers, requesting permission to move to the fast lane." One said into a handheld.

"Take me back now!" Leah screamed.

"I'm sorry, it's too late. We've gotten permission."

"Do you think I give a damn? What do you want me for anyway?" Leah asked.

"Going down." The driver said.

"Look, once we get to the fast lane and reach our destination, you can leave. We didn't want to kidnap you. We just need three passengers to reach the fast lane." The man told her, and Leah sat down heavily.

"How long will that take?" She asked.

"I dunno. We're not going far." The man looked at his friend. "Maybe nine, ten."

"Nine or ten what?" Leah asked. "Minutes, hours…days?"

The two burst out laughing.

"No, silly. Nine or ten years."

Leah's jaw dropped.

"Years? How long have you been traveling?"

They looked at each other.

"Must be, I dunno, eleven years now? We need work."

"How do you know jobs are still open wherever you're off to still?" Leah asked.

"They are. We're sure."

They kept dropping down. Leah could feel them level out and rejoin the line.

"Waiting for access to the next drop." The man driving said.

"I'm Sam, by the way." The man who had taken her in the first place said.

"I'm Keen." The other side.

"Leah." Leah told them, looking around.

"Put a book on, will you?" Keen asked Sam.

"Which one?"

"An ancient one."

Sam grinned. "We're book dealers. Have stuff from the two thousands, can you believe it?"

"That's actually really impressive. How did the work survive?" Leah asked.

"Oh, once something becomes digital, it sticks around forever." Keen told her, and Sam plugged a little disc into a small box.

A smooth, female voice came on. "The Box, by Leah Davis."

Leah felt her face get cold.

"Love her. She's brilliant. Of course, not everyone thinks so." Sam said.

"Leah Davis? That's her name?" Leah asked.

"Shares a name with you. Isn't that funny?" Sam smiled and kept listening.

_Actually, I think she _is_ me. _Leah thought.

"Descending again." Keen said, and they went lower.

They stayed that way for what seemed like an hour.

"This is Sally Calypso, and it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation." The woman on the monitor earlier came on.

"Turn it off!" Keen told Sam, and Sam turned off the novel. Leah was relieved.

She hadn't published a novel. When could she, traveling with the Doctor?

"On a hill, far away, stood an old, rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame." A choir's melody came over the radio, and Sam and Keen began singing along. After a beat, Leah joined in.

"And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown." She sang softly, her eyes filling with tears.

The song finished, and another voice could be heard. "Access granted to fast lane."

Sam and Keen cheered, and Leah heard a roaring and snapping coming from outside.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Does it matter? We made it!" Sam said with a grin, and Leah attempted a smile. She wasn't convinced it was nothing.

They tilted downward, speeding ahead.

"What's down here, anyway?" Leah asked as the groaning continued.

"Nothing." Keen shrugged. "Just other cars."

Leah heard a massive snap, and they veered to the side.

"That wasn't nothing!" She screamed as Keen's face turned to terror.

"What do we do?" Sam asked.

"I dunno, I dunno!" Keen said, swerving as another bump knocked them into a roll.

Leah screamed as she tilted upside-down.

"Turn it off. Turn everything off!" She yelled.

"Have you gone mad?"

"Just do it!" She roared, and Keen flipped a switch. Everything immediately shut down.

They landed with a bump. The clashing around them stopped.

"Oh thank God." Leah said, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Don't be too relieved." Keen said grimly. "Without the engines, we can't produce oxygen."

"How long?" Sam asked.

"Five minutes, maybe six." Keen told them.

"We'll think of something." Leah said. "Or the Doctor will."

"Is that your friend?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. He's up there somewhere, trying to find me and Martha, worrying." Leah looked up briefly.

"Well, I'm sorry we took you down here to die." Sam said.

"The Doctor always thinks of something. I know he will. He will." Leah said stubbornly.

"You know him that well?" Keen asked.

"No. Just met him about a week ago. But I trust him with my life."

A few minutes later, the air was getting short. Leah took in deep, slow breaths, her head pounding.

"We're sorry, Leah." Sam said.

"Yeah. Sorry." Keen added, and Leah straightened.

"I'm not dying here." She said, taking the driver's seat.

"Do you know how to drive?" Keen asked.

"I took a driving test back home. I failed the first time, but I failed for reckless driving." Leah floored the gas, and the machine came to life. They soared upward, and the car rolled to the side. Leah began squinting, twisting the wheel violently to avoid the massive shapes swinging at her.

She caught the clear shape of a massive claw and avoided it.

"Sorry, no Sally Calypso. She was just a hologram." The Doctor's voice filled the cabin. "My name's the Doctor. And this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now. I've opened the roof of the motorway. Come on. Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you. The whole under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up! Fast! We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way." He commanded, and Leah cheered.

"Oi! Car 465 diamond 6. Martha! Drive up! Car 237 diamond 5, Leah, drive up! Go!"

Leah tilted the wheel up, and swerved around another claw. Light was coming through the glass now. She dodged another claw and soared up out of the smoke.

Sam and Keen gasped at the sight of sunlight.

"And Car 237 diamond 5, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate." The Doctor said with a smirk on his face while Sam and Keen cheered in the back.

"Coming at top speed, Doctor." Leah said into the handheld, and the Doctor smiled.

"Hurry up, then. Can't wait for you to see it." He said before the image disappeared.

Leah's smile disappeared as well as she remembered the book. Her book. The Doctor had been keeping something from her, and she needed to know what it was.

"Doctor!" She called out as Sam and Keen sped away, along with thousands of other cars.

"I'm here." The Doctor said, and Leah looked over the room. A hundred skeletons laid on the massive steps. One was twisted on a pedestal at her feet

She moved to the Doctor's side.

"Who is that?" She asked in awe as she looked at the massive face.

"The Face of Boe. And that's his nurse Hame. She's a cat-person." He explained.

"Hello." Leah said to the Face. His eyes were so old, older than the Doctor's. She stared at them, fascinated.

"Doctor?" Martha called.

"Over here." The Doctor said, and Martha ran up.

"Doctor! What happened out there?" Martha asked before stopping.

"What's that?"

"It's the Face of Boe. It's all right. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry. He's the one that saved you, not me." The Doctor said gently, and Martha knelt beside Leah.

"My lord gave his life to save the city, and now he's dying." Hame said, crying.

"No, don't say that. Not old Boe. Plenty of life left." The Doctor said.

"It's good to breathe the air once more." The Face of Boe said softly. His mouth barely moved, but his voice was so deep.

"Who is he?" Martha asked.

"I don't even know. Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now." The Doctor told him.

"Everything has its time. You know that, old friend, better than most." Boe said back.

"The legend says more." Hame said.

"Don't. There's no need for that." The Doctor told her, but she continued.

"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller."

"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?" The Doctor said.

"I have seen so much. Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you are the last of yours, Doctor."

"That's why we have to survive. Both of us. Don't go." The Doctor said sadly, and Leah felt like crying.

"I must. But know this, Time Lord." Boe said. "You are not alone."

He took a last breath, and closed his eyes, slowly. Hame began weeping in earnest, and Leah wiped away a single tear. The Doctor took her hand, and she smiled weakly.

They made their way back to the under-city, to find the shops closed up.

"All closed down." The Doctor said proudly.

"Happy?" Martha asked.

"Happy happy. New New York can start again. And they've got Novice Hame. Just what every city needs. Cats in charge. Come on, time we were off." The Doctor said.

"But what did he mean, the Face of Boe? You're not alone." Martha asked with a glance at Leah, who shrugged.

"I don't know." The Doctor admitted with a smile.

"You've got me. Is that what he meant?" Martha asked, and the Doctor smiled again.

"I don't think so. Sorry."

"Then what?" Martha asked.

"Doesn't matter." The Doctor said, and Leah stiffened. She was sick of being shut off every time. "Back to the TARDIS, off we go."

Leah crossed her arms, and Martha, seeing Leah's stance, pulled up a chair and sat. Leah grabbed another and sat next to her.

"All right, are you two staying?" The Doctor asked.

"Till you talk to us properly, yes. He said last of your kind. What does that mean?" Martha asked.

"It really doesn't matter." The Doctor told them.

"You don't talk. You never say. Why not?" Martha asked, and the Doctor's eyes dimmed.

Leah heard a song drifting through the air, gaining strength. She smiled, wide-eyed in amazement.

"It's the city." Martha said. "They're singing."

Leah looked at the Doctor pleadingly, and he pulled up a chair.

"I lied to you, because I liked it." He said sadly. "I could pretend. Just for a bit, I could imagine they were still alive, underneath a burnt orange sky. I'm not just a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else."

"What happened?" Martha asked softly.

"There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family, my friends, even that sky." The Doctor smiled, a sad sort-of smile that was both happy and incredibly heartbroken.

"Oh, you should have seen it, that old planet. The second sun would rise in the south, and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song." He kept talking and talking, and Leah listened carefully, because she hadn't learned more about him than right now.

Later, in the TARDIS, Leah approached the Doctor. In her hand, she held a disc. Martha was in the back, getting washed up.

"We need to talk." Leah said, and the Doctor looked at her.

"I found this." Leah tossed him the disc, clearly labeled.

The Doctor looked at it, and his face got sad. Just like that, sad.

"You've been keeping things about my future from me, and I want to know why. Why does Martha only get a couple trips, but you say nothing to me about leaving? Why did you choose me? What is it that you're hiding?" Leah asked, and the Doctor looked away from her.

"You don't want to know." He told her, facing the TARDIS's center.

"I have the right to know." Leah asked. "Please, Doctor. What aren't you telling me?"

The Doctor looked at her, straight in the eyes.

"When I first met you, and you told me your name, I recognized you instantly. In the early 21st century, the novelist Leah Davis became famous for her single science fiction novel. She didn't make a huge impact on the genre or fiction, but she could've."

"What do you mean, could've?" Leah asked.

The Doctor stared at her, his eyes comforting and miserable at the same time.

"Leah Davis died on her 21st birthday in a freak car accident. A drunk driver ran her car off the road. She died a couple hours later in the hospital." He told her, and Leah suddenly found it very hard to breathe.

"Leah…" The Doctor said, but she pulled away.

"Isn't it against the laws of time for you to have taken me?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"It could be, if you had been further along. But when I found you, you were just starting out. You hadn't published anything. And you were so full of spirit and life. I didn't want to see you die in another couple of years."

"You invited me along because you felt sorry for me. That's why you don't want me leaving. You don't want me to carry out my future." Leah said flatly.

"No. I didn't invite you because I felt pity. I invited you because I liked you. You made me happy when I felt like there wasn't really a point anymore, like nothing was worth exploring anymore. That Leah Davis isn't you. It's another version of you. And yes, maybe I don't want you to leave, but it's not just that. I want you here." The Doctor told her, and Leah cautiously met his eyes again. They were honest, telling her to see the truth.

"I suppose then," she said slowly, "that I owe you my life." She attempted a smile.

He grinned. "But's that normal, isn't it?"

"Of course, Doctor. You'll always be there to save the day." Leah said with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

**So, I screwed up and accidentally posted the wrong chapter! This is chapter five, and the original chapter five is chapter six. OOPS!**

**Please review and enjoy.**

Leah stepped out of the TARDIS into cold wind. She brushed her flying strands of hair out of her face and looked around.

"Where are we?" Martha asked as they both looked at the skyscrapers in the distance.

"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely." The Doctor said jovially, and Leah grinned.

"Martha, Leah, have you met my friend?" He asked, and he looked behind them. Leah turned and gasped.

"Is that? Oh, my God. That's the Statue of Liberty." Martha said.

"Gateway to the New World. Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free."

"That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one." Martha exclaimed. Leah didn't say anything, just looked around, taking in the new sight.

"Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam." The Doctor said.

"I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet." Martha said.

"Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around…" The Doctor said.

"Late 1930?" Leah asked.

"Actually November first 1930." Martha said.

"You're getting good at this." The Doctor said, and Leah looked at Martha, who was holding a newspaper.

"Eighty years ago. It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now." Martha handed the Doctor the newspaper and moved away.

Leah read the headline.

"Doctor, look." She pointed to the bold letter saying: **Hooverville Mystery Deepens.**

"Come on then, you two." She called as Leah looked at her grimly. "Where do you want to go first?"

"I think our detour just got longer." The Doctor told her, and Martha scurried back over.

"Hooverville Mystery Deepens." Martha read out loud. "What's Hooverville?"

"Herbert Hoover, thirty-first President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then New York was a boomtown, the Roaring Twenties, and then-" The Doctor said.

"The stock market crash, 1929." Leah said.

"Yeah. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So, they ended up here in Central Park." The Doctor looked around at the scenery. It was similar to 2007 New York, only less people and fewer skyscrapers covering the sky.

"What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?" Martha asked in surprise.

The town came into view, tents and fires and dirty people milling around helplessly.

"So many people lost everything and had nowhere to go. So they created their own home." Leah said.

"There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go." The Doctor said as they walked into Hooverville.

"You thieving lowlife!" A man shouted.

"I didn't touch it!" Another screamed, and Leah heard the sound of a solid punch landing.

"Somebody stole it!" The first man lunged for the second as a crowd gathered. Leah saw an African-American man come out of one of the nicer tents and shove his way to the men.

"Cut that out! Cut that out right now!" He shouted, and they stopped. He placed a hand on each of their chests.

"He stole my bread!" One of the men said angrily, trying to break free.

"That's enough! Did you take it?" The African-American man asked them.

"I don't know what happened. He just went crazy." The man said, and the first man lunged for him.

"That's enough!" The man shouted. "Now, think real careful before you lie to me."

The second man sighed. "I'm starving, Solomon." He admitted, reaching inside his coat and taking out a loaf of bread. He placed it in Solomon's hand.

"We all starving. We all got families somewhere." Solomon split the loaf in half and gave a piece to each of the men.

"No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."

"Come on." The Doctor said. "I suppose that makes you the boss around here." He said to Solomon.

"And, er, who might you be?"

"He's the Doctor. I'm Martha. This is Leah." Martha told him.

"A doctor. Huh. Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day." Solomon said sarcastically.

"How many people live here?" Martha asked as Solomon began walking. They followed.

"At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same. All starving. So you're welcome, both of you. But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." Solomon stopped walking and pointed at the unfinished Empire State Building.

"That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?"

A woman came scurrying up to Solomon. "Veuillez nous aider. Mon mari a perdu son emploi et nous n'avons nulle part ou aller."

Solomon got a blank look on his face. "Sorry, ma'am. I don't speak French." He told her.

"Madame?" Leah asked. "Je peux vous aider. Que deves-vous?"

The Doctor and Martha looked at her.

"You speak French?" Martha asked.

"My dad was French. He taught me." Leah said.

"Nous avons besoin d'un endroit pour dormir." The woman said.

"Her family needs a place to sleep."

Solomon smiled at the woman. "Tell her we'll see what we can do and to speak to that man over there." He pointed to a short, balding man sitting on a stool. "He speaks the language and can help you."

Leah translated, and the woman smiled widely. "Merci, merci." She said.

Leah watched her go, and they kept walking.

"So, men are going missing. Is this true?" The Doctor asked Solomon.

"It's true all right." Solomon answered, ducking into a tent. Leah followed, holding the flap open for Martha to come inside.

"But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register." The Doctor said.

"This is different."

"In what way?" Martha asked him.

"Someone takes them, at night. We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air."

"And you're sure someone's taking them?" The Doctor asked.

"Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning." Solomon said.

"Have you been to the police?" Martha asked.

"Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal." Solomon said, and Martha nodded sadly.

"So the question is, who's taking them and what for?" The Doctor asked himself, tugging on his ear.

"Solomon!" Leah heard a man shout from outside.

"Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here." The man, a couple years younger than Leah, peeked inside. Solomon immediately exited the tent.

"I need men. Volunteers. I've got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money." A man said in an announcer's voice over a gathering crowd. He wore an expensive suit and was flanked by two bodyguards.

"Yeah. What is the money?" The young man who got Solomon asked.

"A dollar a day."

"What's the work?" Solomon asked suspiciously.

"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?" Mr. Diagoras said.

"A dollar a day? That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they?" Solomon said loud enough for the whole crowd to hear.

"Accidents happen." Diagoras said slickly.

"What do you mean? What sort of accidents?" The Doctor asked curiously. Diagoras stiffened.

"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?"

Leah saw the Doctor raise his hand firmly.

"Enough with the questions." Diagoras told him.

"Oh, no, no, no." The Doctor said. "I'm volunteering. I'll go."

Leah and Martha exchanged disgusted looks at the mere thought of going into the sewers. Leah raised her hand slowly.

"I'll kill you for this." Martha muttered as her own hand reached up.

"Anybody else?" Diagoras asked. Solomon and the young man both raised their hands. Leah looked at the Doctor, who grinned at her.

"Isn't this exciting?" He asked.

"Yeah. Thrilling." Leah said sarcastically.

"I'm Frank, by the way." The young man said, and Leah smiled.

"I'm Leah, she's Martha, and he's the Doctor." She said.

"Turn left. Go about a half a mile. Follow tunnel two seven three. Fall's right ahead of you, you can't miss it." Diagoras told them as they dropped into the sewer. Leah avoided the puddles and looked around the damp and musty tunnel.

"And when do we get our dollar?" Frank asked.

"When you come back up."

"And if we don't come back up?" The Doctor asked.

"Then I got no one to pay." Diagoras said.

"You'd love that, wouldn't you?" Leah muttered. Solomon looked at her before speaking.

"Don't worry, we'll be back."

"Let's hope so." Martha said quietly. They headed off down the tunnel. The Doctor stared at Diagoras for a few seconds.

"Doctor." Leah said softly, and he turned around.

"We just got to stick together. It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here." Frank said to Martha.

"So what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?" Martha said almost ten minutes later. Leah walked on his other side.

"Oh, you could talk." Frank said. "No, I'm Tennessee born and bred."

"So how come you're here?"

"Oh, my daddy died. Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us. So, what about you two? You're a long way from home."

"Yeah, I'm just a hitcher too." Martha said. "We both are."

"You stick with me, you'll be all right." Frank said with a smile. Leah smiled back and a cold drop of water landed on her cheek.

"Gross." She said, wiping it off.

"So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?" The Doctor asked.

"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan." Solomon told him.

"How'd he manage that then?"

"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round-"

"Whoa!" The Doctor exclaimed, and Leah dodged around Solomon. A luminous green jellyfish-like thing lay on the ground. It glowed brightly, and as Leah knelt, she had to covered her nose as she gagged at the strong smell.

"Is it radioactive or something?" Martha asked, and she knelt. She gagged as well. "It's gone off, whatever it is."

The Doctor slid his hand underneath it.

"And you've got to pick it up." Martha remarked.

"Shine your torch through it." The Doctor told her, and she did.

"Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?"

"It's not human. I know that." Martha said.

"No, it's not. And I'll tell you something else." The Doctor stood, pocketing the strange thing. "We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mister Diagoras send up down here?"

"Where are we now? What's above us?" Martha asked.

"Well, we're right underneath Manhattan." The Doctor looked up, and Leah followed suit, as if she could see the skyscrapers through the rock above her.

"We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse, nothing." Solomon said five minutes later. He shone his flashlight done the tunnel, but there was nothing.

"That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?" Martha asked.

"Looks like it." The Doctor said.

"So why'd he want people to come down here?" Frank asked.

"I don't know. But if we vanish, it's just a sewer accident." Leah said.

"Solomon, I think it's time you took these three back. I'll be much quicker on my own." The Doctor told Solomon.

"No way!" Leah said indignantly, and squeals echoed around them. She jumped.

"What the hell was that?" Solomon asked.

"Hello?" Frank said loudly, and Leah grabbed his arm tightly.

Martha shushed him as Solomon said, "Frank."

"What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared and half mad down here on your own." Frank told them.

"Do you think they're still alive?" The Doctor

"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here! Maybe they just got lost."

There were more squeals, sounding inhuman and animal-like.

"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that." Solomon said. He sounded panicked.

"Where's it coming from? Sounds like there's more than one of them." Frank said.

"This way." The Doctor began walking away.

"No, that way." Solomon gestured down the tunnel, and his light landed on a crouched figure. Leah jumped back as she saw its silhouette.

"Doctor?" She breathed out almost silently.

"Who are you?" Solomon asked.

"Are you lost?" Frank asked, walking closer to the figure. "Can you understand me? I've been thinking about folk lost down-"

"It's all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look." The Doctor said. Frank stepped back as the Doctor walked forward.

"He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you come with us-" He crouched down, and shone his flashlight at the figure.

It was a human with the face of a pig. Human eyes, turned feral, stared back at the Doctor, and tusks curled from its stretched mouth.

"Oh, but what are you?" The Doctor asked.

"Is that, er, some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asked.

"No, it's real. I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?" The Doctor asked, and Leah saw shadows moving toward them on the opposite side.

"Doctor? I think you'd better get back here." Martha said warningly.

The pig-men squealed as they gathered. There were at least ten of them. "Doctor!" Leah said loudly.

"Actually, good point." The Doctor backed up toward them.

"They're following you." Martha said.

"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks. Well then, Leah, Martha, Frank, Solomon-" The Doctor said.

"What?" Martha asked.

"Eh? Er, basically…run!" The Doctor shouted, and they turned and sprinted the other direction. The pig-men followed, squealing barbarically as they did.

"Where are we going?" Martha asked hysterically.

"This way!" The Doctor took the lead from her. He passed a side-passage before doubling back.

"It's a ladder! Come on!" The Doctor said. He climbed up the ladder. Leah stood by Solomon as Frank grabbed an iron crowbar. He shouted at the pig-men to stay back.

Leah glanced up to see Martha disappear through the hatch.

"Frank! Frank!" Solomon shouted as he climbed.

"Leah, come on!" Martha shouted.

"Frank, we have to go!" Leah grabbed Frank's arm and tugged him to the ladder. She began climbing.

"C'mon, Frank! C'mon!" Solomon shouted, reaching out a hand. Leah heard a shout of fear and glanced back. Frank was being carried away.

"Frank!" Solomon shouted.

"I've got you. C'mon! Come on!" The Doctor shouted at Leah. She felt a tight hand close around her ankle.

"Doctor!" She shouted, and he reached for her. She grabbed his hand desperately.

"Come on!" The Doctor shouted, pulling harder. The pig-men swarmed around Leah, and she felt her grip slipping. She met the Doctor's eyes before the pig-men pulled her away.

"No!" The Doctor screamed as Leah felt herself being dragged away.

"Doctor!" She screamed, and she heard the bang of the manhole cover being shut.

"Get off! Let me go!" She elbowed a pig-man in the face, but he hardly flinched.

"Leah!" She heard Frank shout.

"Frank, Frank!" She clutched desperately for him, and he grabbed her, pulling her out of the mess.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, and she nodded shakily. She looked around at the other humans standing helplessly in line while the pig-men watched.

"Why are we here?" Frank asked.

"I don't know." Leah said. "But the Doctor will figure it out. He always does."

"He seems like that sort of man." Frank said.

"You have no idea."

Almost an hour of waiting later, the pig-men began pushing the prisoners to their feet. Leah could smell their stench from here.

They began trudging along. They had just turned a corner when Leah heard screaming.

"No! Let me go!" Martha shouted.

"Martha!" Leah shouted, and she reached for her friend.

"You're alive!" Martha asked, and she hugged Leah tightly. Her voice was terrified.

"Oh! I thought we'd lost you." Martha said, and she saw Frank.

"And Frank!" She hugged Frank, and a pig-man shoved Leah. She stumbled a little.

"All right, all right, we're moving." Martha told the man, but she kept a tight grip on Leah's hand.

"Where are they taking us?" Frank asked her.

"I don't know, but we can find out what's going on down here."

"What are they keeping us here for?" Frank asked.

"I don't know. I've got a nasty feeling we're being kept in the larder."

"Someone else is in charge. These things aren't bright enough to think up this whole plan." Leah said, looking around.

They stopped moving soon after that. The pig-men all began squealing, and Leah heard the sound of whirring machinery.

"What're they doing? What's wrong? What's wrong?" Frank asked.

"Silence. Silence." A deep, mechanical, screaming voice said, and something came around the corner. It was an elaborate upside-down cup-shaped gold shape, with a blue-glowing stalk almost like an eye sticking out from its head. In place of arms it had what looked like a plunger and a whisk with a hole in the middle.

"What the hell is that?" Martha asked.

"You will form a line. Move. Move." The thing said as the pig-men pushed the prisoners together.

"Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey." Martha told the people.

"The female is wise. Obey." The thing ordered in its screaming voice.

Another one of the things came around the corner. "Report." It said.

"These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause."

Dalek? Leah mouthed at Martha, who's face had paled under her dark skin.

"What is the status of the Final Experiment?" The first Dalek asked.

"The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete."

"Then I will extract prisoners for selection."

A pig-man shoved the first in line forward.

"Intelligence scan, initiate." The Dalek put the sucker in the man's face.

"Reading brain waves." The sucker began rotating quickly. "Low intelligence." The Dalek said.

"You calling me stupid?" The man asked.

"Silence! This one will become a pig slave. Next." The Dalek moved onto the next man.

"No, let go of me. I'm not becoming one of them. No! No!" The first man shouted as a couple pig-men dragged him away.

"Intelligence scan. Initiate." The Dalek said to Frank, who looked terrified.

"Superior intelligence." The Dalek said, and Leah sighed in relief.

"Intelligence scan, initiate. Superior intelligence." The Dalek said to Martha, and it moved to Leah.

"Intelligence scan, initiate." The Dalek focused on Leah, and she stood still, trying to suppress her fear.

"Superior intelligence. These ones will become part of the Final Experiment." The Dalek said, and Leah let out all her air.

"You can't just experiment on people." Martha said as the pig-men pushed them down the tunnel.

"It's insane! It's inhuman!" She screamed as they were being marched away.

"We are not human." The Dalek responded.

Leah felt someone grab her jacket's sleeve.

"Just keep walking." The Doctor murmured in her ear.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you." Martha said ecstatically, and Leah spared a smile.

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want." The Doctor said.

They were all herded out into a dimly lit lab were three other Daleks besides the one with them waited.

"Report." The prisoner's Dalek asked, joining the others.

"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution." One said, and Leah peered at the black, smoking Dalek trembling behind the others.

"Scan him. Prepare for birth."

"Evolution?" The Doctor asked. He sounded truly puzzled.

"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha asked, looking at the smoking Dalek.

"Ask them." The Doctor said.

"What, me? Don't be daft." Martha said.

"Daleks!" Leah said loudly, and one spun around.

"What is the Final Experiment? We deserve the right to know!"

"You will bear witness." The Dalek said.

"To what?" Martha asked, gaining her courage.

"This is the dawn of a new age."

"What does that mean?" Martha asked.

"We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again."

The metal casing around the shuddering Dalek stopped moving, and slowly, the blue light in the eyestalk faded. The casing opened up with a hiss, and slowly, a human-shaped thing emerged. Its face was hidden from Leah.

"What the hell?" Leah asked.

"What is it?" Martha asked the Doctor.

The thing raised its head to reveal a one-eyed face with eight stubby tentacles sticking out from the jaw.

"I am a human Dalek." It said. "I am your future."


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, Friday already? Ok, well, here's the latest chapter. Thanks to my followers and reviewers, I adore you all.**

**Please review and enjoy! I've only been getting a review or two per chapter and I'd honestly love to get a couple more. It would mean a lot.**

**Thanks**

"These humans will become like me. Prepare them for hybridization." The strange being said.

The pig-men began pushing Leah towards the Daleks. She looked around for the Doctor to find him missing.

"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!" Martha shouted, and Leah shot her a warning glance.

In that instant, a song began playing loudly. The human-Dalek pressed his hands over his ears in pain.

"What is that sound?" He asked.

"Ah, well, now, that would be me." The Doctor peeked out, holding a radio.

"Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera." He continued, walking towards the Daleks.

"Doctor." The human-Dalek said.

"The enemy of the Daleks." A Dalek said.

"Exterminate!" Another said, and they all whirled towards the Doctor.

"No!" Leah said breathlessly.

"Wait!" The human-Dalek ordered, and the Daleks paused in their advance.

"Well, then. A new form of Dalek. Fascinating and very clever." The Doctor said, looking over the human-Dalek.

"The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter." The human-Dalek told him.

"How did you end up in 1930?"

"Emergency temporal shift."

"Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, huh? Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world, but instead you're skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting. All of which results in you." The Doctor looked the human-Dalek up and down curiously and distastefully.

"I am Dalek in human form."

"What does it feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now."

"I feel humanity." Dalek Sec turned away from the Doctor.

"Good. That's good."

"I feel everything we wanted from mankind, which is ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such a genius for war."

"No, that's not what humanity means." The Doctor backtracked.

"I think it does." Sec said, turning back around. "At heart, this species is so very Dalek."

"All right, so what have you achieved then, with this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! Because I can show you what you're missing with this thing. A simple little radio." The Doctor picked up the box again.

"What is the purpose of that device?" A Dalek asked.

"Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that? Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it. Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's all just noise!" The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the machine, and a high-pitched shriek came out.

"Run!" The Doctor shouted, and Leah sprinted to the exit. She led the group through the sewers. She paused at the three-way turn, and the Doctor over-took her.

"Come on! Move, move, move, move, move!" He shouted as he ran past.

Leah saw a woman wearing a fur coat over white dance outfit.

"And you, Tallulah! Run!" The Doctor shouted at her.

"What's happened to Laszlo?" The woman asked him, and Martha grabbed her. She let out a little squeak as they kept sprinting.

The Doctor reached a ladder.

"Come on! Everyone up! Come on!" He shouted as he climbed, using his screwdriver to unlock the cover. He pushed it open and helped Leah out. She blinked the light out of her eyes and helped the others get out.

"These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they want to breed?" Solomon asked the Doctor when they got back to camp.

"They're splicing themselves onto human bodies, and if I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville. You've got to get everyone out." The Doctor told him urgently.

"Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's nowhere else to go."

"I'm sorry, Solomon. You've got to scatter. Go anywhere. Down to the railroads, travel across state. Just get out of New York."

"There's got to be a way to reason with these things." Solomon said.

"No way." Leah said.

"There's not a chance." Martha agreed. Solomon looked at them both skeptically.

"You ain't seen them, boss." Frank told him quietly, and Solomon nodded.

"Daleks are bad enough at anytime, but right now they're vulnerable. That makes them more dangerous than ever." The Doctor told him. He glanced around urgently, and they heard a shout.

"They're coming! They're coming!" Someone shouted, completely panicked.

"A sentry. He must have seen something." Solomon said, and the Doctor shoved Leah and Martha behind him.

"They're here! I've seen them! Monsters! They're monsters!" The sentry screamed.

"It's started." The Doctor said coldly.

"We're under attack!" Solomon said so his voice carried. "Everyone to arms!"

"I'm ready, boss, but all of you, find a weapon! Use anything!" Frank ordered the gathering crowd. Some people sprinted off in a blind panic.

"Come back! We've got to stick together! It's not safe out there! Come back!" Solomon shouted over the yelling and grunting.

"We need to get out of the park." Martha said loudly.

"We can't. They're on all sides. They're driving everyone back towards us." The Doctor said.

"We'll be easy pickings if they have us all together. But we can't get out." Leah said.

"Then we stand together. Gather round. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together." Solomon said, and people listened, coming into a clump. Leah saw the pig-men advancing cautiously, and shots went off.

"They can't take all of us." Solomon said.

"If we can just hold them off till daylight." Martha said hopefully.

The Doctor looked up at the sky. "Oh, Martha, they're just the foot soldiers."

Leah looked up to see a Dalek swooping down.

"Oh, my God." Martha said breathlessly.

"What in this world is?" Solomon looked up at the Dalek.

"It's the devil. A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation!" A sentry shouted.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Frank shouted, and he fired the shotgun in his hands.

"Frank!" Leah shouted as the bullet bounced off with a clang.

"That's not going to work." The Doctor told him, grabbing the barrel off the gun.

"There's more than one of them." Martha said faintly as a second Dalek soared from the clouds. They began firing, beams of light exploding the ground into sand. Leah heard people screaming and tensed. She was afraid, so scared because she didn't know how they'd make it out of this one.

"The humans will surrender." One of the Daleks ordered.

"Leave them alone. They've done nothing to you!" The Doctor screamed. Leah saw his eyes, filled with rage.

And right then, the Doctor scared her.

Solomon stepped forward. Leah tried to grab his shoulder, but he slipped through her hand.

"No, Solomon. Stay back." The Doctor said.

"I'm told that I'm addressing the Daleks. Is that right?" Solomon shouted.

"From what I hear, you're outcasts too."

"Solomon, don't!" The Doctor warned.

"Doctor, this is my township." Solomon told him quietly. "You will respect my authority. Just let me try."

He turned back to the Daleks. "Daleks, ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?"

"Right. See, I've just discovered this past day, God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh yeah, terrifies me right down to the bone. But surely it's got to give me hope. Hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So, I beg you now, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well? What do you say?"

There was the briefest of pauses, and for a split second, Leah felt a spark of hope.

"Exterminate!" The lead Dalek said mercilessly, and a beam of light shot straight into Solomon's chest. He screamed as his entire body was lit up in a green light, his skeleton showing through.

"No! Solomon!" Frank screamed as his leader crumbled.

"They killed him." Martha's voice trembled. "They just shot him on the spot." Leah felt numb as she looked at Solomon.

The Doctor rushed forward.

"Doctor, no!" Leah said.

"Daleks. All right, so it's my turn! Then kill me! Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people!" The Doctor shouted, and Leah moved forward. Her eyes were wide, and her heart was beating out unsteadily.

"I will be the destroyer of our greatest enemy." The Dalek said.

"Then do it! Do it! Just do it!" The Doctor screamed. He hit his chest.

"Do it!"

Leah rushed forward, jumping in front of the Doctor. She looked back at him just in time to see his eyes widen.

"Exterminate." The Dalek said, and Leah clenched her eyes tight as the Doctor gripped her hands behind her.

But the blast never came.

"I do not understand. It is the Doctor." The Dalek said.

There was a pause, and Leah opened her eyes. "The urge to kill is too strong." The Dalek said.

Another pause.

"I…obey." The Dalek said finally.

"What's going on?" The Doctor asked.

"You will follow." The Dalek told him.

Leah spun around, meeting the Doctor's brown eyes. "Don't go, please." She said quietly.

"No! You can't go." Martha shouted, and the Doctor stepped away from Leah.

"I've got to go. The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks never change their minds." He told them, standing side by side.

"But what about us?" Martha asked, her voice shaking, and it hit Leah that she might not see the Doctor again. And she needed him.

The Doctor spun to face the waiting Daleks. "One condition! If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?" He shouted.

"Humans will be spared. Doctor, follow." The Dalek said.

"Then I'm coming with you." Martha said, and Leah nodded.

"No, you two, stay here. Do what you do best. People are hurt. You can help them. Let me go." The Doctor told them. He grabbed Leah's hand. She felt the cool of something press into it before he walked away.

Leah looked down into her palm at the psychic paper she now held.

"Somebody help me." A man said outside of Solomon's tent, which Martha, Tallulah, and Leah had set up as a medic center.

"Here you go." Tallulah said, coming back with some hot water. I got some more on the boil."

"Thanks." Martha said. "You'll be all right. It's just a cut. Try and keep it clean." She told the man she was fixing up.

"Thanks." He told her, and he left.

Leah looked at the psychic paper in her hands. She had been turning it over and over in her hands for the past fifteen minutes.

"So what about us? What do we do now?" Tallulah asked.

"The Doctor gave us this. He must have had a reason." Martha pointed to the paper.

"What's that for?" Tallulah asked.

"It makes people believe what you want them to believe. It gets you into places." Leah explained.

"Wait a minute." Martha said excitedly. "Down in the sewers, the Daleks mentioned this energy conductor."

"What does that mean?" Tallulah asked.

"I don't know. Maybe like a lightening conductor or…" Martha looked at Leah.

"Dalekanium!" Leah and her said in unison.

"Oh." Tallulah said. She sounded more confused than sure.

"They said the Dalekanium was in place." Martha told her.

"In place where?" Tallulah asked.

"Somewhere that Diagoras bloke was working." Leah said.

"Frank might know." Martha asked.

Frank had his head bowed. He sat alone, the shotgun still in his hands.

"Frank?" Martha asked gently as they walked up.

"Hmm?" Frank said, hurriedly wiping at his cheeks. He stood up and faced them, and Leah pretended not to see the puffiness around his eyes.

"That Mister Diagoras, he was like some sort of fixer, yeah? Get you jobs all over town?" Martha asked.

"Yeah. He could find a profit anywhere." Frank told her.

"But where, though? What sort of things?"

"You name it. We're all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work, that pays the best."

"What buildings, though? Big, tall…" Leah trailed off, and she looked at the skyline.

"Of course." She said.

"You got it. The Empire State." Frank said.

"I always wanted to go to the Empire State. Never imagined it quite like this, though." Martha said as she looked around the dingy service elevator.

"Where are we headed anyway?" Frank asked.

"The very top." Leah told him, tapping her foot impatiently.

"How come those guys just let us through? How's that thing work?" Tallulah asked, looking at the psychic paper now in Martha's hand.

"It's like Leah said. Psychic paper. Shows them whatever I want them to think. According to this, we're two engineers and an architect." Martha said, looking at the paper. The elevator stopped, and they all got out.

"Look at this pace. Top of the world." Tallulah said, looking around. Leah took a quick glance and headed for a worktable.

"Over here. Blueprints." She said, and Frank and Martha hurried over.

"Hey, look at the date. These designs were issued today. They must've changed something last minute." Frank said, pointing to a small number in the corner of the top print.

"You mean the Daleks changed something?" Martha asked.

"Yeah, could be." Frank said.

"The ones underneath, they're from before. That means that whatever they changed must be on this top sheet but not on this one. We need to check one against the other." Martha pulled the bottom print out and put it side by side with the other. Leah stared at it closely, but everything looked the same.

"The height of this place! This is amazing." Tallulah said from behind a sheet of plastic.

"Careful, we're a hundred floors up. Don't go wandering off." Martha told her.

"I just want to see."

"I'll go and keep an eye out. Make sure we're safe up here. Don't want nobody butting in." Frank said, and he walked toward the elevator.

"There's a hell of a storm moving in." Tallulah said as she came back.

"I wish the Doctor was here. He'd know what we're looking for." Martha said quietly as Leah spread the blueprints out on the floor.

"He's coming back, Martha." Leah told her, but her own voice didn't sound too optimistic.

"So tell me, where did you two and him first hook up?" Tallulah asked them.

"He saved my life." Leah said simply.

"He seems like that kind of man." Tallulah said.

"It was in a hospital, sort of." Martha said. Leah and her exchanged glances, remembering the moon, and the Judoon, and the Plasmavore.

"Of course, him being a doctor." Tallulah said.

"Actually, I'm a doctor. Well, kind of." Martha said.

"You're a physician? Really?"

"I was training. Still am, if I ever get back home."

"You could be doctors together. Oh, what a partnership." Tallulah said happily. "Oh, it's such a shame. If only he wasn't so different. You know what I mean?"

"You don't know the half of it." Leah said.

"Yeah, he's a man, sweetheart. That's different enough." Tallulah told her.

"He had this companion a while back. This friend." Martha started, and Leah looked at her. Neither of them knew much about Rose. The Doctor had only ever said her name five or six times.

"And ever since then he's been on his own. But you know, sometimes I say something or do something and he looks at me, and I just sort of think that he's not seeing me. He's just remembering." Martha said sadly.

Leah had known about Martha's crush on the Doctor. She just hadn't realized how deep it went.

"Oh. Listen, sweetheart. You want to get all sad? You want to have a contest with me and Laszlo?" Tallulah asked.

"No. But listen, if the Doctor's with Laszlo now, there's every chance that he could get him out."

"And then what? Don't talk crazy. There's no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it." Tallulah walked away, her voice thick with tears.

Leah looked at Martha, poring over the blueprints.

"You know nothing good will come out of it?" She started quietly.

"Out of what?"

"Your feelings toward the Doctor? He's too different, Tallulah's right."

"You think I don't know that? Because I do. Every time he looks at me and sees her."

"He does it to me too. But I don't want you hurt."

Martha looked at her. "I haven't had a friend like you in a while. You're a good one. It's good the Doctor has someone, who, you know, is just a mate."

Leah smiled. Martha never failed to make her feel a little more wanted. "C'mon. Let's find that Dalekanium."

A few minutes later, Martha's finger shot to the page. "Gotcha." She said, and Tallulah rushed over.

"Look. There, on the mast. Those little lines? They're new. They've added something, see?"

"Added what?" Tallulah asked.

The three women looked at each other. "Dalekanium!"

The elevator swished open, and Leah looked up to see the Doctor.

"Doctor!" Martha said, standing up.

"First floor, perfumery." The Doctor joked as he and another man, face half-turned into a pig, stepped out.

"I never thought I'd see you again." Tallulah said, rushing towards the man. Leah guessed it was Laszlo.

"No stopping me." Laszlo said, and the couple hugged.

"We've worked it out. We know what they've done. There's Dalekanium on the mast." Martha told the Doctor. "And it's good to see you too, by the way."

"Oh, come here." The Doctor caught Martha in a hug while Leah smiled. The elevator doors clanged shut.

"No, no, no." The Doctor ran to the doors. "See, never waste time with a hug. Deadlock seal. I can't stop it."

"Where's it going?" Martha asked.

"Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?" The Doctor asked.

"Er, eleven fifteen." Frank told him.

"Six minutes to go. I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits." The Doctor looked at the plastic sheet, and walked toward it.

"Gammon radiation? What the heck is that?" Tallulah asked.

The Doctor stepped out into the open space. It was windy and cold, and Leah felt her stomach drop.

"Oh, that's high. That's very. Blimey, that's high." The Doctor said.

"You aren't going to like this next bit then." Leah said grimly.

"That's the mast up there, look. There's three pieces of Dalekanium on the base. We've got to get them off." Martha told him. The Doctor paused.

"That's not we, that's just me." He told the pair.

"I won't just stand here and watch you." Martha said stubbornly.

"No, you're going to have your hands full anyway. I'm sorry, but you've got to fight." The Doctor told them.

Leah stared at the Doctor for a heartbeat.

"Come on Martha. He's right." Leah walked back to where Frank and Tallulah waited. Martha followed her.

"The lift's coming up." Martha said nervously, clutching a long metal pole. Leah held a heavy hammer in her hands.

"I should have brought that gun." Frank said with a nervous chuckle.

"Tallulah, stay back. You too, Martha. If they send pig slaves, they're trained to kill." Laszlo said.

"The Doctor needs me to fight. I'm not going anywhere!" Martha protested.

"They're savages. I should know. They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth." Laszlo told her. He lifted his hammer and toppled to the ground.

"Laszlo? What is it?" Tallulah asked him, kneeling beside him.

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine. Just leave me." Laszlo said weakly.

"Oh, honey, you're burning up. What's wrong with you? Tell me."

"Great. One man down, we ain't even started yet." Frank said.

"It's not looking good, Frank." Martha said.

"Nope."

"We're going to get slaughtered."

"Well that's optimistic." Leah said sarcastically as thunder boomed.

"Wait a minute." Martha's eyes widened. "Lightning."

"Grab the scaffolding. Make a path to the lift." She told them, and Frank and Leah set to work.

"What the hell are you two clowns doing?" Tallulah asked them.

"Even if the Doctor stops the Dalekanium, this place is still going to get hit. Great big bolt of lightening, electricity all down this building. Connect this to the lift and they get zapped." Martha told her.

"You're brilliant, you are." Leah said, admiring the line of metal poles.

"Oh my God, that could work." Tallulah said.

"Then give us a hand." Frank said, breathing hard.

They finished quickly as the lift kept coming.

"Is that going to work?" Tallulah asked.

"We don't exactly have a plan B, so it better." Leah said, readying herself. She crouched beside Martha on the floor where Tallulah fussed over Laszlo.

"I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside." Frank said.

"Come here, Frank. Just sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal." Martha told him.

They waited as the lift kept climbing. 70, 80, 90…finally, it reached the top. The doors opened, and the pig-slaves looked out in confusion at the pole in there way. Leah heard the smack of lightning, and the air around her lit up with blue electricity.

It lasted for only a few seconds, but she could smell burnt hair coming from the elevator. It turned her stomach.

"Yeah!" Frank said triumphantly as he looked at the dead pig-men.

"You did it, Martha." Tallulah said.

"They used to be like Laszlo." Martha said softly. "They were people, and I killed them."

"No, the Daleks killed them. Long ago." Laszlo told her reassuringly. Something about his words made Leah remember…

"The Doctor!" Leah exclaimed, and she rushed outside. The wind was blowing hard and rain was falling, but she climbed up the side of the building. Her foot nudged something, and she bent down. It was the Doctor's screwdriver. She heard Martha behind her, climbing up.

"Doctor!" She shouted. No answer. She climbed until she reached the top. The Doctor lay, spread-eagled, across the side of the flat top.

"Doctor!" Leah knelt beside him, and she heard Martha's gasp as she reached the top as well.

"Oh, wake up. We still need you. I found your sonic screwdriver." Leah said to him.

"You're getting careless." Martha added, sounding close to tears.

The Doctor groaned, and Leah smiled. "Oh my head." He said.

"Hi there." Leah said softly.

"Hi. You survived, then." The Doctor slowly sat up.

"So did you, just about." Martha said, and she looked at the Doctor worriedly.

"I can't help noticing there's Dalekanium still attached."

"The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing. They'll be using the sewers, spreading the soldiers out underneath Manhattan." The Doctor told them as they walked back into the main room.

"How do we stop them?" Martha asked him.

"There's only one chance. I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping though me first." The Doctor told them.

"Yeah, but what does that mean?"

"We need to draw fire. Before they can attack New York, I need to face them. Where can I draw them out? Think, think, think, think, think. We need some sort of space. Somewhere safe. Somewhere out of the way." The Doctor paced before jumping. "Tallulah!"

"That's me. Three Ls and an H." Tallulah said earnestly.

"The theatre! It's right above them, and, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"

"Don't see why not."

"Is there another lift?" The Doctor looked at the pig-men in the main one.

"The service elevator." Leah said, gesturing to it in the corner.

"That'll do. Allons-y!" The Doctor leaped toward it.

"There ain't nothing more creepy than a theatre in the dark." Tallulah muttered.

The Doctor pointed his screwdriver to the ceiling and it emitted a short wave of beeps.

"Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for show tunes, but there's a time and place, huh?" Tallulah told him, and Leah saw Laszlo practically collapse into a chair.

"Laszlo, what's wrong?" Tallulah asked concernedly.

"Nothing. It's just so hot." Laszlo said faintly, and Leah sat down beside him.

"But it's freezing in here. Doctor, what's happening to him?" Tallulah asked, and Leah took his pulse.

"Not now, Tallulah. Sorry." The Doctor said, and Leah stood up as he pressed buttons on the screwdriver.

"What are you doing?" Martha asked.

"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll want to find their number one enemy. I'm just telling them where I am." The Doctor told her.

"Doctor, his heart is racing. He needs help." Leah murmured to the Doctor.

"He'll be fine." The Doctor told her.

"Don't lie to me to protect me."

The Doctor looked at her.

"The pig-mutation is killing him. But I can't save him until I know the Daleks are gone." He told her in undertone. "And you all need to leave."

"There is no way we're leaving." Martha told him, crossing her arms.

"I can't face the Daleks worrying about you two. I'm telling you to go. Frank can take you back to Hooverville." The Doctor told them.

"What you mean to say is you can't die with us watching." Leah said, staring at him accusing. "Doctor, it's suicide!"

"You already jumped in front of me once, when I couldn't stop you. Solomon died. I'm not letting any more people die for me."

"Solomon didn't die for you! He died for what he believed in. And I would've died to save you because you deserve someone willing to die for you."

The doors burst open, and Leah ducked instinctively as two lines of humans marched in, holding strange bronze guns.

"Doctor! Oh, my God! Well, I guess that's them then, huh?" Tallulah said, still at Laszlo's side.

"Humans, with Dalek DNA?" Martha asked the Doctor, thoughts of their argument gone.

"It's all right, it's all right." The Doctor pushed down Frank's ready hammer. "Just stay calm. Don't antagonize them."

"But what of the Dalek masters? Where are they?" Laszlo asked, and the stage exploded. The Doctor shoved Leah down below the seats, and her neck cracked loudly.

"The Doctor will stand before the Daleks." A Dalek said, and the Doctor rose. Leah peeked over the seats as he stepped confidently and angrily over them.

"You will die, Doctor. It is the beginning of a new age." The Dalek told him, and Leah saw Dalek Sec in chains.

"Planet Earth will become New Skaro." The other Dalek said.

"Oh, and what a world. With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec. Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new Empire, hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?" The Doctor asked.

"My Daleks, just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you." Dalek Sec told them.

"Incorrect. We will always survive." The first Dalek said.

"Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor." The other said.

"But he can help you!"

"The Doctor must die."

"No, I beg you, don't!"

"Exterminate!" The Dalek said, and Leah watched wide-eyed, as Dalek Sec threw himself off the ground, his entire body illuminated in green light as the laser hit him.

She gasped as he hit the ground.

"Your own leader. The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him. Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is?" The Doctor turned around to the humans standing with ready weapons.

"If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptize them!" The Doctor raised his arms to the sky.

"Dalek humans, take aim." The Dalek said, and they did. Leah watched helplessly as the Doctor seemed to embrace it.

"What are you waiting for? Give the command!" He shouted, his voice turning into one not like his own.

"Exterminate!" The Dalek shouted, and Leah saw the Doctor flinch. But nothing happened.

She saw him flinch. She saw him looking death in the face, ready to give in, and he flinched, because deep down, he didn't really want to die.

"Exterminate!" The other Dalek tried, but nothing happened.

"Obey. Dalek humans will obey." The first Dalek commanded, and Leah stood.

"They're not firing. What have you done?" Martha asked the Doctor, who didn't respond.

"You will obey. Exterminate!"

"Why?" The first man in line asked.

"Daleks do not question orders."

"But why?"

"You will stop this."

"But why?"

"You must not question." The other Dalek asserted.

"But you are not our master." The man said. "And we, we are not Daleks."

"No, you're not. And you never will be." The Doctor told the man. "Sorry, I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom." He winked at Leah and Martha, and Leah thought she heard Martha sigh beside her.

"If they will not obey, then they must die." The Dalek said, and a beam of light struck the man who had spoken in the chest. He fell yelling in pain.

"Get down!" The Doctor yelled, and Leah ducked as beams of light flew over head.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Daleks shouted, and Leah heard an explosion. She glanced up to see one of the Daleks smoking, completely dead. The other exploded with a flare of orange fire.

The Doctor and Leah both stood cautiously. The human-Daleks stood motionless, as though awaiting orders.

"It's okay. You can put these down now." The Doctor told one of them, and then a sound filled the air, high-pitched and piercing. The mutants clutched their heads as they slowly collapsed, their facial expressions ones of pain and fear.

"No! They can't! They can't! They can't! They can't!" The Doctor yelled, and he kneeled beside one.

"What happened? What was that?" Martha asked as Leah watched in shock.

"They killed them, rather than let them live. An entire species. Genocide." The Doctor told her coldly.

"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed. One of the Dalek masters must still be alive." Laszlo said, his breathing hard.

"Oh, yes." The Doctor said almost heartlessly. "In the whole universe, just one."

The Doctor had gone ahead to deal with the last Dalek. Leah watched over the others. Martha examined Laszlo as he began to have trouble breathing.

"The Doctor will help. C'mon." Leah told Martha, and they picked up Laszlo.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Martha called out as they reached the Daleks' laboratory. "He's sick."

"It's okay. You're all right." Martha told Laszlo as they laid him down on the cool floor. "It's his heart. It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it."

"What is it, Doctor? What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe? What is it?" Tallulah asked.

"It's time, sweetheart." Laszlo told her gently, and Leah watched sadly as Tallulah shook her head.

"What do you mean, time? What are you talking about?" She asked.

"None of the slaves survive for long. Most of them only live for a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on because I had you. But now, I'm dying, Tallulah."

"No, you're not. Not now, after all this. Doctor, can't you do something?" Tallulah looked up at the Doctor with sad eyes.

"Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H, just you watch me." The Doctor said, and Leah smiled as he turned excitedly.

"What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one. Laszlo, just you hold on. There's been too many deaths today." The Doctor began mixing liquids together, all the while talking.

"Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! You got that? Not one. Tallulah, out of the way. The Doctor is in!"

Leah, Martha, and the Doctor waited with Laszlo and Tallulah as Frank walked toward them.

"Well, I talked to them, and I told them what Solomon would've said, and I reckon I shamed one or two of them." Frank told them as he reached their little group.

"What did they say?" The Doctor asked.

"They said yes." Frank said, and Leah grinned. "They'll give you a home, Laszlo. I mean, er, don't imagine people ain't going to stare. I can't promise you'll be at peace but, in the end, that is what Hooverville is for. People who ain't got nowhere else."

"Thank you. I can't thank you enough." Laszlo said fervently, and the Doctor put his hand in Leah's. She squeezed it tightly.

"Do you reckon it's going to work, those two?" Martha asked as they reached the TARDIS again.

"I don't know. Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York? That's what this city's good at. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig slave Dalek mutant hybrid too." The Doctor said, and Leah smiled.

"The pig and the showgirl." Martha said.

"The pig and the showgirl." The Doctor agreed, and Leah laughed.

"You two are ridiculous." She said.

"It just proves it, I suppose." Martha said. "There's someone for everyone." She looked straight at the Doctor, who looked away immediately.

"Maybe." He said.

"Meant to say, I'm sorry." Martha added as they reached the TARDIS.

"What for?" The Doctor asked.

"Just because that Dalek got away. I know what that means to you. Think you'll ever see it again?" Martha asked.

"Oh, yes." The Doctor told her.

"One day." He murmured.

"At least there's only one left." Leah told him.

"At least we have that." He agreed, and he closed the door to the New York wind.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! It's been a super busy week, but I have finished the chapter! Thanks for the positive and helpful responses to this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's super short, but I'll upload another tomorrow!**

**Please review!**

"There we go." The Doctor said as they hit the ground. "Perfect landing. Which isn't easy in such a tight spot."

"You should be used to tight spots by now." Martha said with her customary flirty smile. "Where are we?"

"The end of the line. No place like it." The Doctor said, and Martha, excitedly, stepped outside.

"Home." Martha's smile fell instantly. "You took me home?"

"In fact, the morning after we left, so you've only been gone about twelve hours. No time at all, really." The Doctor said.

"Way to lead her on." Leah muttered quietly to him. He raised an eyebrow, and Leah was struck by why Martha had fallen for him so completely. He was the strangest mixture of adorable and handsome.

"But all the stuff we've done. Shakespeare, New New York, old New York?" Martha asked him.

"Yep, all in one night, relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was. Books, CDs, laundry. So, back were you were, as promised." The Doctor faced her.

"This is it?" Martha looked shocked, and she glanced at Leah with jealousy in her brown eyes. Leah was ashamed to find that for a second, she liked the envy in her eyes.

"Yeah, I should-" The phone began ringing, and the Doctor looked at it, "probably er-"

Martha's voicemail started up. "Hi, I'm out. Leave a message."

"I'm sorry." Martha said.

"Martha, are you there? Pick it up, will you?" A woman said sharply.

"It's Mum. It'll wait." Martha told them.

"All right then, pretend that you're out if you like." Martha's mum said. "I was only calling to say that your sister's on TV. On the news of all things. Just thought you might be interested."

Martha turned on the television.

"The details are top secret-" A very old man said.

"How could Tish end up on the news?" Martha asked.

"Tonight, I will demonstrate a device which will redefine our world." The man said, and Leah noticed a woman who looked like Martha standing behind him.

"She's got a new job. PR for some research lab." Martha told them.

"With the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human."

"Professor! Professor!" Reporters began shouting at the man, and Leah puzzled over his last comment as Martha turned the TV back off.

"Sorry. You were saying we should?" Martha asked the Doctor, an edge to her voice.

"Yes, yes, we should. One trip is what we said." The Doctor said.

"Yeah. I suppose things just kind of escalated." Martha said, her voice half-pleading.

"Mmm. Seems to happen to me a lot." The Doctor said, leaning against the TARDIS.

"Thank you. For everything." Martha said with a sad smile.

"It was my pleasure." The Doctor said, and he stepped into the TARDIS. Quickly, Leah stepped forward and hugged Martha tightly. Martha's arm hugged tightly back.

"I'll miss you." Leah told her.

"I'll miss you too." Martha said, and she looked at the TARDIS.

"Better not keep him waiting."

Leah stepped into the TARDIS and shut the door.

She looked at the Doctor as he took off.

"You know, that man did mention changing humans." She said nonchalantly.

"He did, didn't he?"

"Could mean something odd. It was all very grandiose and mysterious."

"Hmm." The Doctor stared at the controls before flipping a switch.

Leah grinned, and she opened the door the moment they touched down.

"Hi." She said to Martha, who looked completely shocked.

"Sorry." The Doctor poked his head out. "Did he say he was going to change what it means to be human?"

"Oh, black tie. Whenever I wear this, something bad always happens." The Doctor fidgeted with his tie, and Leah smiled, shivering a little in the cold air. He wore a black and white tuxedo, and his face was one of displeasure. He looked good though. Handsome. Leah could think someone was hot without falling for them.

"It's not the outfit, that's just you." Martha said. She was wearing a knee-length brown V-neck dress that flared at the bottom. "Anyway, I think it suits you. In a James Bond kind of way."

"James Bond? Really?" The Doctor asked, and he stood a little taller.

Leah checked her dress to make sure nothing had happened to it on the walk over. The dark-blue flared skirt rustled in the wind, and the tank top straps weren't falling off her shoulders. On her feet she wore short boots with tiny heels, ready to run if she needed to.

They reached the front door.

"Martha Jones, and plus two." Martha said confidently, and the doorman checked his list.

"Um, I've got Martha Jones on here, but no plus two. I can let in one?" He said doubtfully.

The Doctor reached for his psychic paper, and Leah shook her head.

"You two go. I should probably check in with Mum and Dakota." Leah said. She watched them go, and turned to walk down the street.

The taxi dropped her off at her mum's flat. She headed up the stairs and knocked loudly.

"Who's there?" Her mother opened the door and smiled.

"Leah!" Her arms wrapped Leah in a hug, and Leah grinned, suddenly feeling very homesick.

"How long was I away?" Leah asked.

"Only a couple days."

"Really? It's felt like longer." Leah shrugged, and they sat down on the beaten-in couch.

"How's the wedding going?" Leah asked.

"How do you think? Dakota's freaking out, Dave is completely calm, everything's hectic." Her mother rolled her eyes.

"I should be here." Leah said softly.

"We know why you left. And I'm guessing you're leaving again?"

Leah saw a glimmer of hope in her mother's eyes. "I'm sorry, mum." She said miserably. "I can't leave him yet."

"I don't understand why you're so reluctant to leave him."

"Because…" Leah searched for the right words, "he's so lonely. You can see it. Even though he has me, and this other girl, Martha, he still feels alone. There was this woman a while back. I think he loved her, but he had to let her go. And if he was on his own, he'd just fall apart. And he's absolutely _wonderful_. You don't know him, so you wouldn't understand, but I love every second I'm around him."

Her mother smiled. "Well, you're here now. How long you got?"

"I don't know." Leah shrugged. "An hour?"

"I'll make us some tea."

Leah had a good time with her mother, knowing that it had only been a couple days, but also knowing better now the danger she was in. And an hour passed quickly, too quickly. Leah half-longed to stay, but she knew she couldn't.

And there was so much she wanted to tell her, but she knew she couldn't. She wanted to tell her how she died in a different timeline, how she got published, her various near-death experiences, being on the moon, meeting Martha. But she knew it would just worry her further.

Her phone buzzed after an hour-and-a-half, and she answered.

"Leah Davis?"

"Leah, brilliant! Are you at your mother's?" The Doctor's voice said.

"You have a mobile?" Leah asked incredulously. "And yes, I am."

The Doctor hung up abruptly and Leah felt wind brushing her face. The TARDIS appeared in her mother's living room as the force pushed her back.

"Don't freak out, Mum! It's just the Doctor!" Leah yelled as her mother came in from the kitchen, where she had been making more tea.

"Right on my rug!" Her mother exclaimed as the Doctor opened the door.

"Well, come on then. Don't just stand about!" He said impatiently.

Leah gave her mum a hug and headed inside.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" The Doctor asked her quietly, and Leah looked back at her mother's worried face through the door.

"Yeah, I'm sure." She said, but she felt like it was a lie.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the late update everyone. It's been a super stressful past few weeks but I've tried to keep writing. It's complicated right now.**

**Thanks to SilverOcean01 who reviews every chapter. Check out her stuff, she's a really good writer!**

**Please review all!**

"Leah, Martha, phone?" The Doctor held out a hand, and Leah put her old, battered phone into it. He pointed the screwdriver at it.

"Right, there we go. Universal roaming. Never have to worry about a signal again." The Doctor said.

"No way. This is too mad. You're telling me I can phone anyone, anywhere in space and time on my mobile?" Martha asked.

"Can I stop paying for service now?" Leah asked with a smile.

"As long as you know the area code. Frequent flier's privilege. Go on, try it." He said, and Leah looked down at it. Suddenly, the TARDIS shifted to the right violently.

The Doctor scrambled for the controls. "Distress signal. Locking on. Might be a bit of-" The TARDIS shook again, and Leah fell to the floor, barely grabbing ahold of a chair.

"Turbulence. Sorry." The Doctor said as they stood again. "Come on, Leah, Martha. Let's take a look."

Steam billowed into Leah's face, and she coughed. It was at least forty degrees hotter outside the TARDIS doors.

"Distress signal transmitted." An automated voice said.

"Whoa, now that is hot." The Doctor remarked.

"Tell me about it." Leah said. She was suddenly very glad she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

"Automated distress signal transmitted." The computer said again.

"Ugh, it's like a sauna in here." Martha said, stripping off her jacket.

"Venting systems. Working at full pelt, trying to cool down. Wherever it is we are. Well, if you can't stand the heat…" The Doctor pushed open a steel door and they stepped out of the glowing red room.

"Oi, you two!" A man shouted, and Leah saw three people, two men and a woman, sprinting towards them.

"Get out of there!" The woman shouted.

"Seal that door, now!" The young man yelled.

"Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?" The woman asked as she shut the door and Leah watched, utterly confused.

"Are you police?" The young man asked.

"Why would we be police?" The Doctor asked curiously.

"We got your distress signal." Martha told them, and they seemed to calm down a little.

"If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?" The Doctor asked. Leah had no idea how he could hear anything over the racket of the hissing steam.

"It went dead four minutes ago." The woman told them.

"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering. Captain." The older man said with an edge to his voice.

"Secure closure active." The computer voice said loudly.

"That's gonna get really annoying." Leah muttered. Martha looked like she agreed.

"What?" The captain asked of the computer.

"The ship's gone mad!" The older man said. Another woman came running at them from out of the smoke.

"Who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked in to area twenty seven." She said as doors slid closed behind her.

"Who are you?" She looked at the trio curiously.

"He's the Doctor and I'm Martha, and she's Leah. Hello." Martha told them.

"Impact projection forty two minutes twenty seven seconds." The computer said.

"We'll get out of this. I promise." The captain said, and Martha wandered to a porthole.

"Forty-two minutes?" Leah asked the Doctor.

"Doctor." Martha said, and Leah glanced at her.

"Forty-two minutes until what?" The Doctor asked.

"Doctor!" Martha shouted, and Leah looked at her. She looked like she was trying to hide fear. "Look."

Leah looked out the porthole and almost gasped as she saw the brilliant flame of the burning star.

"Forty-two minutes until we crash into the sun." The captain said dryly.

"How many crew members on board?" The Doctor asked.

"Seven, including us."

"We transport cargo across the galaxy. Everything's automated. We just keep the ship space worthy." The older man said.

"Call the others, I'll get you out." The Doctor said, and he ran to the door where the TARDIS was.

"What's he doing?" The young man asked.

"No, don't!" The captain shouted as the Doctor opened the door. He let out a cry of surprise as the heat knocked him backward. The last woman to arrive put on a helmet and closed the door.

"But my ship's in there!" The Doctor said.

"In the vent chamber?" The young man asked.

"It's our lifeboat."

"It's lava." The older man said.

"You aren't helping." Leah said to him sharply.

"The temperature's going mad in there. Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising." The woman who closed the door said.

"Channeling the air. The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get." The young man told them, and Leah looked at the Doctor, wondering how they were going to get out.

"We're stuck here." Martha said.

"So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun. Simple." The Doctor said brightly. "Engineering down here, is it?" He walked toward an open passage.

"Yes." The captain said.

"Impact in forty twenty six." The computer said, and Leah followed the Doctor down the hall as sweat gathered on her forehead.

"Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?" The Doctor asked as they looked at the collection of wires and scattered metal that was supposedly the engine.

"Oh my God." The Captain said.

"What the hell happened?" The older man asked, examining the engine.

"Oh, it's wrecked." The young man said.

"Pretty efficiently too. Someone knew what they were doing." The Doctor said thoughtfully.

"Sabotage?" Leah asked, and he shrugged.

"Where's Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?" The captain asked.

"No." The older man answered.

"Korwin, Ashton? Where are you? Korwin, can you answer? Where the hell is he? He should be up here." The captain said into an intercom.

"Oh, we're in the Torajii system. Lovely." The Doctor said, bending over a computer. "You two are a long way from home. Half a universe away."

"Yeah. Feels it." Martha said, and Leah nodded in agreement.

"And you're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?" The Doctor asked the captain.

The captain paused. "We're due to upgrade next docking. Scannell, engine report."

"No response." Scannell, the older man responded as he bent over the engine.

"What?"

"They're burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."

"Oh, come on. Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries." The Doctor said.

"We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship." The captain told him.

"Yeah, with twenty nine password sealed doors between us and them. You'll never get there in time." Scannell added.

"Can't you override the doors?" Martha asked.

"No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed." Scannell told her.

"So a sonic screwdriver's no use." The Doctor said, and Leah grimaced.

"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance!" Scannell said.

"Oh, listen to you. Defeated before you've even started. Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Who's got the door passwords?" The Doctor asked fiercely.

"They're randomly generated. Reckon I know most of them." The young man said. "Sorry. Riley Vashti." He smiled.

"Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti? Get on it." The Doctor told him.

"Well, it's a two person job. One, a tech for the questions, and the other to carry this." He held up a clamp. "The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?"

"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?" The captain answered stiffly. Riley put on a massive backpack.

"Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice." He said.

"I can help out." Leah volunteered.

"It's remotely controlled by the computer panel. That's why it needs two." Riley explained, and Leah took the clamp. It weighed at least twenty pounds, and she cradled it in her arms.

Riley gestured to the door, and they took off.

"Oi." The Doctor called after them, and Leah looked back.

"Be careful." He said.

"You too." Leah said with a smile, and she began running after Riley.

They reached the first door in a couple minutes. It was so hot inside the ship, Leah felt sweat getting thicker on her forehead.

"What do I do?" Leah asked.

"All right. Fix the clamp on." Riley said as he set up his computer. Leah fixed the clamp to the door, and the light on it turned red.

"So, what's the key?" Leah asked.

"Each door's trip code is the answer to a random question set by the crew. Nine tours back, we got drunk, thought them up. Reckoning was, if we're hijacked, we're the only ones who know all the answers." Riley explained with a smile.

"So if you get the right answer-"

"This sends an unlock pulse to the clamp. But we only get one chance per door. Get it wrong, the whole system freezes."

"Don't screw up then."

"Okay. Date of SS Pentallian's first flight. That's all right. Go!" He typed it in, and the clamp's light turned green.

"Yes!" Leah said excitedly.

"Twenty eight more to go!" Riley said, and they kept running.

"Leah? Riley? How're you doing?" The Doctor's voice came over the intercom.

"Door to twenty-eight." Leah answered as she fixed the clamp to the next door.

"Yeah, you've got to move faster." The Doctor said.

"We'll try." Leah said.

"Find the next number in the sequence three one three, three three one, three six seven." Riley said, and he looked at Leah. "What?"

"Ask the crew." Leah suggested, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"The crew's changed since we set the questions." Riley said.

"Fantastic."

"Three seven nine." The Doctor's voice said.

"Huh?" Leah asked.

"It's a sequence of happy primes. Three seven nine."

"Happy what?"

"Just enter it!"

"Are you sure? We only get one chance." Riley asked.

"Oh, put it in. He's a genius." Leah said, and Riley punched in the number.

The light turned green. "We made it!" Leah said excitedly.

"Keep moving, fast as you can." The Doctor said. "And, Leah, be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."

"That's not terrifying." Leah said sarcastically.

They reached the next door, and Leah fixed the clamp on.

"Oh, this is a nightmare." Riley said. "Classical music. Who had the most pre-download number ones, Elvis Presley or The Be-atles? How are we supposed to know that?"

"Oh!" Leah pressed her fingers to her temples. "I know this! My history professor was a Beatles nut. Um…Elvis!"

"You sure?"

"Yes! Now punch it in."

Riley typed in the answer, and the clamp turned green.

"You're brilliant. Let's go." He said, and they kept running.

They could see the next door when a bloodcurdling scream came over the intercom and they halted in their tracks as chills ran up Leah's back even in the extreme heat.

"Doctor! We heard screams." She called out.

"Focus on the doors, Leah." Martha said. "Keep going forward. And be careful!"

Leah looked at Riley, and he nodded, his legs moving again.

"Everybody, listen to me. Something has infected Korwin. We think he killed Abi Lerner. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?" The captain's voice said, and Leah pushed Riley's body forward.

"Keep going! We can't stop now!"

They kept going, door after door after door. Finally, they reached seventeen.

"Doctor, we're at seventeen!" Leah said.

"Keep going. You've got to get to area one and reboot those engines." The Doctor said. He sounded strained.

"Come on!" Riley hit his non-functional computer and it flickered.

"Everything on this ship is so cheap." He said, and a door behind them clanged open.

"Who's there?" Riley asked, and a figure began emerging.

"It isn't Korwin, is it?" Leah asked.

"No, wait a minute." Riley said, and the figure emerged.

"Oh, Ashton, what're you doing?" Riley asked.

"Burn with me." Ashton said in a sinister voice.

"Well, if you want to help-" Riley said, and Leah grabbed his arm.

"Burn with me. Burn with me." Ashton repeated, and Leah pulled him away, toward a closed door.

"Run!" She screamed, and she opened the door, slamming it closed behind them. Ashton appeared at the window, and Riley opened the small hatch, leading to a small pod.

"What is happening on this ship?" Riley asked as he closed that door as well.

"Never mind that, where are we?" I asked.

"Airlock sealed. Jettison escape pod." The computer said.

"Doctor!" Leah shouted.

"Pod jettison initiated." The computer said.

"Doctor! We're in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock. Ashton's trying to jettison us! Please help!" She said.

"Can you stop it?" She asked Riley, who was typing away furiously at the keypad.

"Jettison held." The computer said.

"Thank you." Riley said as Leah exhaled.

"Jettison reactivated." The computer said, and Leah screamed in frustration.

"Come on." Riley kept typing.

"Tsilpinski sequence. This'll get him." He said.

"Jettison held. Escape pod stabilized." The computer said, and Leah grinned. She gave Riley a hug.

"Thanks!"

"Jettison activated." The computer said, and Riley jumped back to the controls.

"He's smashed the circuit. I can't stop it. I can't stop it!" He said, panicked.

"Airlock sealed." The computer said, and Leah broke.

"Shut UP!" She screamed.

"Airlock decompression completed. Jettisoning pod." It told her mockingly, and the Doctor appeared in the window.

"Doctor!" Leah said with a hopeful smile.

The Doctor shouted something, but she couldn't make it out.

"Martha, it's too late." Riley said hopelessly.

"Doctor!"

He shouted again.

"I can't hear you!" Leah shouted.

He shouted something, and Leah heard the sound of the final locks unclicking. The pod floated slowly away from the ship, falling into the burning sun. Soon, she couldn't see the Doctor anymore.

"The wonderful world of space travel. The prettier it looks, the more likely it is to kill you." Riley said.

"He'll get us." Leah said.

"No, it's too late. Our heat shields will pack in any minute, and then we go into free fall. We'll fall into the sun way before he has a chance to do anything." Riley said.

"I have to believe in the Doctor." Leah said resolutely.

"Then you're lucky. I've never found anyone worth believing in." Riley said.

"Don't you have a family? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?" Leah asked him.

"The job doesn't lend itself to stable relationships." Riley told her.

"Relatives?"

"My dad's dead, and I haven't seen my mum in six years. She didn't want me to sign up for cargo tours. Things were said, and since then, all silent. She wanted to hold on to me, I know that. Oh, she's so stubborn."

"You're lucky. She loved you. Probably still does." Leah said.

"What about you?" He asked.

"Oh, it's really just me and mum. My friend, Dakota, she's like family. My brother died when I was ten, and my dad left us a couple months later." Leah shrugged.

"But she'll never know what happened to me! She'll blame the Doctor, and he'll feel responsible. And I'll never get to go to Dakota's wedding! I was the maid-of-honor." She rambled.

"Call them." Riley said, and Leah pulled out her phone. She dialed the number.

"Hello?" Her mum's voice was calm.

"Mum? It's me." Leah said, close to tears.

"Leah? Is everything alright?"

"Um, yeah, everything's fine. It's just been a crazy day. I love you, mum. I really do."

"Are you sure everything's alright?"

"Of course. You know me, I'm always all right. How's the weather?"

"Gray, stormy." Her mother sounded confused.

"It sounds beautiful. I wish I could see it."

"What's the weather like where you are?"

"Um…hot. Very hot." Leah said.

"That's nice. Listen, I have to go run some errands. Give me a call later, all right?"

"Mmm hmm." Leah said, her voice about to break, and her mum hung up.

She broke down in tears, and Riley wrapped his arms around her. She did the same to him.

There was a big jolt, and Leah released Riley.

"We're being pulled back!" He told her excitedly, and Leah looked up at the station.

"The Doctor always comes through!" She said happily as they floated upward.

"Airlock recompression completed." (The Doctor has his eyes closed tight as he takes off his helmet and crawls out of the airlock. The pod docks.)

"Doctor! Doctor!" Leah screamed as she ran out of the pod. She turned and saw him collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Leah asked, and the Doctor scrabbled away from her. His eyes opened slightly, and blinding white light poured from the

"Stay away from me!" He said in a hoarse voice very unlike his own, and Leah backed off quickly in surprise.

"What's happened?" The captain ran up, Martha behind her.

"It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!" The Doctor said furiously.

"Riley, get down to area ten and help Scannell with the doors." McDonnell ordered, and Riley hesitated. "Go!" Riley ran off quickly.

"You mined that sun. Stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life!" The Doctor shouted, his eyes clenched shut and body curved in pain.

"I don't understand." McDonnell asked.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Martha asked.

"That sun is alive. A living organism. They scooped out its heart, used it for fuel, and now it's screaming!" The Doctor shouted.

"What do you mean? How can a sun be alive? Why is he saying that?" McDonnell asked.

"Because it's living in me!"

"What do we do?" Leah asked.

"Humans! You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry! You should have scanned!" The Doctor screamed.

"It takes too long. We'd be caught. Fusion scoops are illegal!" McDonnell confessed, and Leah looked at her.

"Being a cheapskate just cost you four members of your crew!" She said angrily.

"Leah, Martha!" The Doctor said. "You've got to freeze me, quickly."

"What?" Martha asked.

"Stasis chamber. You've got to take it below minus two hundred. Freeze it out of me! It'll use me to kill you if you don't. The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it gets! Med-center, quickly!" The Doctor screamed in pain between words. "Quickly!"

Leah grabbed on of his arms, and Martha broke out of her panic. She grabbed his other side, and they took off, the captain leading the way.

"Impact in seven thirty." The computer told them as they hurried, and Leah picked up her pace.

"I can do it!" Martha snapped at Leah as they both reached for the manual.

"Leah, where are you?" The Doctor asked.

"Right here Doctor. Martha's setting up the chamber." Leah said soothingly.

"Just help me get him up. Stasis chamber, minus two hundred, yeah?" Martha asked as Leah hoisted the Doctor towards the bed.

"No, you don't know how this equipment works. You'll kill him. Nobody can survive those temperatures." McDonnell said.

"He's not human. If he says he can survive, then he can."

"Let me help you, then." McDonnell reached for the Doctor's arm.

"He's our friend." Leah said warningly, and she backed off as they got the Doctor onto the bed.

"Ten seconds. That's all I'll be able to take. No more." The Doctor gasped. "Leah!"

"Martha, work!" Leah snapped Martha out of her daze. "Yes, Doctor?"

"It's burning me up. I can't control it. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you. I could kill you all." He said hoarsely, fury coating his voice. He convulsed, and Leah thought her heart stopped.

"I'm scared! I'm so scared!" He said, whimpering, and Leah touched his hand, ignoring the incredible heat.

"Hey, it's all right. I'm here. Believe in me."

"It's burning through me. Then what'll happen?"

"Stop! That's not gonna happen!" Leah said vehemently. She couldn't face that yet.

"There's this process, this thing that happens if I'm about to die-"

"Ready?" Martha asked, cutting him off.

"No." The Doctor said, and Leah was struck at the honesty in his voice as Martha pushed him in. She typed in 200 on the keypad and pressed the minus button. The Doctor screamed as white light poured from the chamber, and Leah struggled against reaching in and pulling him out.

Only a few seconds had passed when the white light went out.

"Martha, he isn't done yet!" Leah said, her voice high-pitched and scared.

"No! Martha, you can't stop it. Not yet." The Doctor said, yelling in pain.

"What happened?" Martha asked. The keypad wasn't working.

"Power's been cut in Engineering." McDonnell said.

"But who's down there?" Martha asked.

"Leave it to me." McDonnell said.

"Come on. You're defrosting." Martha said only a minute later.

"Martha, listen! I've only got a moment. You've got to go!" The Doctor gasped.

"No way." Martha protested.

"Get to the front. Vent the engines. Sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them." The Doctor said before screaming again.

"I am not leaving you!" Martha protested.

"Martha, go! I've got him. Just run!" Leah shouted, and she nodded.

"I'll be back for you." She said as she took off.

"Doctor, it's okay." Leah said.

"Leah, leave! I'll kill you!"

"It doesn't matter." Leah said, her voice shaking.

"Get out!" The Doctor said, and he convulsed in pain. Leah moved away from him, watching the door for any more walking sunbeams.

She heard a thump and turned around to see the Doctor lying on the ground.

"Doctor, stop!" She shouted.

"Martha!" The Doctor shouted.

"Doctor! What are you doing?" Martha's voice said through the intercom.

"I can't fight it. Give it back or-" He convulsed, and he looked straight at Leah, who was staring at his closed eyes.

"Burn with me."

Leah gasped and backed away from him.

"Burn with me, Martha." The Doctor repeated, looking straight at Leah.

"Martha, hurry!" Leah screamed desperately. She ran into the corridor, and away from the room. The Doctor crawled after her, his eyes still closed.

"Doctor, it's me! Leah! Stop!" Leah shouted at him, turning around, and suddenly, she was tumbling backwards.

Her back hit the ground hard, and she gasped in pain. The Doctor kept coming. He paused and screamed in pain. Leah shut her eyes tightly, trying to block out his shrieks. A blinding light turned her eyelids pink, but she didn't open them.

His screams stopped abruptly, and she opened her eyes as he took a deep breath and rolled over.

"Doctor!" She crawled to his side and lifted his head up.

"I…told you to leave." The Doctor coughed.

"That wasn't an option." Leah said, and he sat up.

He grinned and gave her a hug. She hugged him tightly back, and they stood up.

She pulled away. His grin was wide, too wide to be normal for what he just went through. No, this was a covering smile, to hide the pain and fear he had admitted to.

Leah heard footsteps and turned. Martha ran toward them. She leapt into the Doctor's arms with a smile of joy. When she released him, she turned to Leah.

"You did it." Leah said with a smile as they hugged.

Martha nodded against her shoulder happily.

"This is never your ship." Scannell said as he looked at the TARDIS.

"Compact, eh? And another good word, robust. Barely a scorch mark on her." The Doctor said, patting the TARDIS.

"We can't just leave you drifting with no fuel." Martha said sympathetically.

"We've sent out an official mayday. The authorities will pick us up soon enough." Riley told her.

"Though how we explain what happened-" Scannell said.

"Just tell them. That sun needs care and protection just like any other living thing." The Doctor said, and he turned to go. Martha walked in behind him. Leah turned to go, but someone caught her arm.

"So, er, you're off then. No chance I'll see you again?" Riley said, and Leah smiled.

"No, I don't think so." She said, and he nodded sadly.

"But almost dying with you wasn't so bad." She added before internally wincing.

"Look, Riley, I know you feel alone. But you're gonna find someone who understands exactly how that feels, and it'll just click." Leah said.

"I think I already did." Riley said, meeting her eyes.

Leah smiled, and, in the heat of the moment, swept up in adrenaline, she grabbed Riley's neck and pressed her lips to his.

She released him after a couple seconds.

"That comment deserved a kiss." She said with a smile, and she disappeared into the TARDIS.

"So. Didn't really need you in the end, did we?" Martha was saying to the Doctor as Leah walked in. The Doctor looked away from her, and the serious and hurt expression on his face made Leah's heart ache.

"Sorry. How are you doing?" Martha said.

The Doctor seemed to snap back into his act. "Now, what do you say? Ice skating on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha. Fancy it?"

"Whatever you like." Martha said, her voice saying that she expected to be told what was wrong.

"Personally, I think it sounds lovely." Leah chimed in, walking toward the console.

"By the way, you two will be needing these." The Doctor held up matching chains with keys dangling on the ends.

"No way." Leah said with an awed smile.

"Really?" Martha asked.

"Frequent flier's privilege." The Doctor said with a wink, and Leah took the key gently from his hand. She put the chain over her neck, feeling it settle on her chest, icy-cold but comforting.

"Thank you." The Doctor added.

"Oh, no. Mum." Martha's eyes widened, and she took out her phone.

Leah heard her talking in the background as she moved closer to the Doctor.

"So, the mineral lakes of Kur-ha." She said.

"You don't need to make sure I'm all right." The Doctor said.

"No. I know you aren't." Leah said, and she looked up at him. He met her eyes and squeezed her shoulders with one arm.

"Nah, I'll be fine." He said. "Just you watch." He released her with a smile

_I don't think you'll ever be fine. _Leah thought, but she just nodded and smiled back. Her heart seemed to ache for him as he turned away.


	9. Chapter 9

**Happy Christmas to those of you who celebrate it! Hello everyone, hope you are having a good vacation/break from school/week. This chapter is the first half of two of my favorite 10th episodes: Human Nature and The Family of Blood. I hope you enjoy this.**

**Please review!**

Leah knocked at the door, easily balancing the tray of tea and bread.

"Come in." A voice said, familiar to Leah, yet strange with the lack of spontaneous energy.

Leah walked in before spinning around. "Mister Smith. You're not dressed." She said. "I'll come back later."

"No, it's all right, it's all right." The man said, and Leah turned around. She glanced into the Doctor's blank, human face and felt her heart get a little heavier. But it was all necessary for their protection.

"Put it down. I was er-" The Doctor laughed. "Sorry, sorry. Sometimes I have these extraordinary dreams."

Leah set down the tray by him and began opening curtains. She straightened the books on a desk and swept a trace of dust away.

"About what, sir?"

"I dream I'm this adventurer. This daredevil, a madman. The Doctor, I'm called. And last night I dreamt that you were there, as my companion."

"Pardon me, but that's silly." Leah said with a faked laugh. "A professor and a maid?"

"I'm a man from another world, though."

"You have a most creative mind." Leah straightened the bed slowly, savoring every second she had with him.

"This thing. The watch is-" The Doctor looked at it, and Leah remembered her nervousness that one day he'd open it accidently.

"Ah, it's funny how dreams slip away." He continued, setting down the fob watch. "But I do remember one thing; it all took place in the future. In the Year of Our Lord two thousand and seven."

"Well, the paper says it's Monday, November 10, 1913, and though I admire your imagination, you're completely human, sir." Leah said.

"Mmm, that's me. Completely human." The Doctor said, and Leah curtsied before exiting.

Leah was scrubbing the floors alongside her roommate Jenny later that morning when she saw the Doctor coming toward her. She still expected a smile, a wave, something.

"Morning, sir." She said.

"Yes, hi." He answered distractedly.

"Head in the clouds, that one. Don't know why you're so sweet on him." Jenny said.

"Sweet on him? Never. He's just very kind." Leah said.

"I can see stars in your eyes." Jenny teased.

"Not me. But back home, my friend Martha, oh, she follows him around like a puppy." Leah said fondly.

"Er, now then, you two." A boy said proudly, and Leah looked up at two of the seniors.

"You're not paid to chat, are you? Put a little backbone into it." The boy continued.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Jenny said obediently.

"You there, what's your name again?" The other boy asked Leah.

"Leah, sir. Leah Davis."

"Baines said put some backbone into it, Davis, so listen up and take your orders." The boy said.

"I'll get right on that, sir." Leah answered quietly.

"Careful, now. Don't answer back." Jenny warned.

"Oh, I wish I could. I would give those boys a good smack." Leah said.

"Oh, I wish. Just think, though. In a few years time, boys like that'll be running the country." Jenny said.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Leah said, thinking of World War I, starting in mere years.

Much later that day, Leah heard of the Doctor, no, sorry, Mr. Smith, tumbling down the stairs. She rushed to his room immediately, filled with concern.

"Are you all right?" She asked as she barged in.

"Excuse me, Leah." The school nurse, Nurse Redfern, said. "It's hardly good form to enter a master's study without knocking."

"Of course, ma'am. My mistake." Leah said, a hint of frustration rubbing into her voice. "But he is okay? I heard you fell down the stairs, sir."

"No, it was just a tumble, that's all." The Doctor said.

"Very good." Leah glanced around. "I'll just tidy your things."

She began straightening everything again, though nothing really needed it.

"I was just telling Nurse Redfern…Matron, about my dreams. They are quite remarkable tales. I keep imagining that I'm someone else, and that I'm hiding." The Doctor said.

"Hiding? In what way?" Nurse Redfern asked.

"They're almost every night. This is going to sound silly."

"Tell me."

"I dream, quite often, that I have two hearts."

"Well, then. I can be the judge of that. Let's find out." Nurse Redfern pulled out a stethoscope and listened to the Doctor's heart.

"I can confirm the diagnosis. Just one heart, singular."

"I have er, I have written down some of these dreams in the form of fiction. Not that it would be of any interest."

"I'd be very interested."

_Too interested, if you ask me._ Leah thought.

"Well, I've never actually shown it to anyone before."

"A Journal of Impossible Things. Just look at these creatures. Such imagination!"

"It's become quite a hobby."

"It's wonderful. And quite an eye for the pretty girls." Leah listened intently as she cleaned.

"Oh no, no, she's just an invention. This character, Rose. I call her, Rose. Seems to disappear later on." The Doctor said, no sadness in his voice.

"Ah, that's the box. The blue box. It's always there. Like a like a magic carpet. This funny little box that transports me to far away places." The Doctor said jokingly.

"Like a doorway?"

"Mmm. I sometimes think how magical life would be if stories like this were true."

"If only."

"It's just a dream." The Doctor finished.

Leah jogged after Nurse Redfern, the book in her arms. She had to keep the Doctor safe.

"Excuse me, Matron?" The woman turned. "That book-" Leah began to say.

"Oh, I'll look after it. Don't worry. He did say I could read it." Nurse Redfern said.

"I just wanted to say, he's always been quite fanciful. Don't let him sweep you into it." Leah said politely.

"Who is he, Leah?" The nurse asked, and Leah froze.

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"It's like he's left the kettle on. Like he knows he has something to get back to, but he can't remember what." Nurse Redfern said.

"Like I said, he's always been like that." Leah said.

"You arrived with him, didn't you? He found you employment here at the school, isn't that right?"

Leah nodded. "He inherited me from his family."

"Well, I'd be careful. If you don't mind my saying, you sometimes seem a little familiar with him. Best remember your position." The nurse said, and Leah forced herself to stay calm.

"Yes, ma'am." She said tightly.

"I can't stand this cold." Leah sat down with beer in hand. "Why can't we drink inside?"

"Now don't be ridiculous. You do get these notions! It's all very well, those Suffragettes. but that's London. That's miles away." Jenny told her.

"Why are we lower than them? We're human too. Money shouldn't define the person."

"I don't know. Things must be different in your country." Jenny said.

"Very different. I get to go back soon." Leah said.

"You keep saying that." Jenny said skeptically.

"Oh, it'll be brilliant. One more month and I can leave. I wish you could come, Jenny. Get out of this dreadful place."

"Where are you going to go?"

"Anywhere I want. You see all those stars. I'll go to every single one."

"You don't half say mad things."

"Maybe I am mad, but-" Something green flashed in the sky, and Leah gasped.

"Did you see that?" She asked.

"See what?" Jenny answered.

"A star, falling down." Leah said, though it looked nothing like a falling star. "Just over there."

Leah heard a panting as a woman ran up. "Matron?" She asked. "What is it?"

"Did you see that? There was something in the woods. This light." The nurse gasped, and Leah saw the Doctor approaching

"Anything wrong, ladies? Far too cold to be standing around in the dark, don't you-" He asked.

"There, there. Look in the sky." Nurse Redfern said to him as another beam of light crossed the sky.

"Oh, that's beautiful." Jenny said.

_That's trouble. _Leah thought.

"All gone. Commonly known as a meteorite. It's just rocks falling to the ground, that's all." The Doctor said.

"It came down in the woods." The nurse said.

"No, no, no. No, they always look close, when actually they're miles off. Nothing left but a cinder. Now, I should escort you back to the school. Ladies?" The Doctor told her.

"No thank you." Leah said, searching the skies.

"Then I shall bid you goodnight." The Doctor and the nurse left, walking closer that Leah liked for protecting him.

"Jenny, if you had to guess, where did that light come down?" She asked.

"Well, I'd say Cooper's Field." Jenny said, and Leah began running.

"You can't just run off. It's dark. You'll break a leg!" Jenny said, but Leah heard her footsteps falling behind her.

They reached the empty field quickly, but Leah's lungs hurt from the cold air.

"There you are. Nothing there. I told you so." Jenny said.

"And that's Cooper's Field?" Leah asked.

"As far as the eye can see, and no falling star. Now come on, I'm frozen to the bone, let's go. As your Mister Smith says, nothing to see." Jenny said, and Leah looked over the dark meadow once more before turning around.

Leah reached the old barn the next morning early. She ran inside and smiled.

The TARDIS, all lit up, sat there patiently, waiting for the driver. Leah unlocked the doors and walked inside.

"Hello." She said. "How are you doing?"

Of course there wasn't an answer.

"I miss him too." Leah said sadly.

_"Get down!" The Doctor shouted, slamming the doors shut. _

_"They're following us. They can follow us wherever we go. Right across the universe. They're never going to stop." He said. _

_"Leah, you trust me, don't you? _

_"Yes."_

_"Because it all depends on you. Leah, this watch is me." The Doctor held up a fob watch._

_"I don't understand." Leah said._

_"Those creatures are hunters. They can sniff out anyone, and me being a Time Lord, well, I'm unique. They can track me down across the whole of time and space."_

_"So…?"_

_"They can smell me, they haven't seen me. And their life span'll be running out, so we hide. Wait for them to die." The Doctor said vehemently._

_"But I thought you said they could smell you." _

_"That's why I've got to do it. I have to stop being a Time Lord. I'm going to become human." _

_A headset slowly lowered from the top of the TARDIS._

_"Never thought I'd use this. All the times I've wondered…" The Doctor said._

_"What is it?" Leah asked._

_"Chameleon Arch. Rewrites my biology. Literally changes every single cell in my body. I've set it to human."_

_"Now, the Tardis will take care of everything. Invent a life story for me, find me a setting and integrate me. Can't do the same for you. You'll just have to improvise. I should have just enough residual awareness to let you in." The Doctor told her, and Leah swallowed her fear._

_"Won't that hurt?" She asked._

_"Oh, yeah. It hurts." The Doctor said. He strapped on the headset, and it glowed blue. He began shaking and screaming violently, and Leah pressed her hands over her ears._

Leah turned on the recording again, just to hear his voice.

"This working?" The Doctor asked. "Leah, before I change, here's a list of instructions for when I'm human. One, don't let me hurt anyone. We can't have that, but you know what humans are like. Two, don't worry about the TARDIS. I'll put it on emergency power so they can't detect it. Just let it hide away. Four. No, wait a minute, three. No getting involved in big historical events. Four, you. Don't let me abandon you. And five, don't let me eat pears-" Leah fast-forwarded it.

"I saw a green shooting star, and I think it was the family." Leah said worriedly.

"And twenty three. If anything goes wrong, if they find us, Leah, then you know what to do. Open the watch. Everything I am is kept safe in there. Now, I've put a perception filter on it so the human me won't think anything of it. To him, it's just a watch. But don't open it unless you have to. Because once it's open, then the Family will be able to find me. It's all down to you, Leah. Your choice." The Doctor said seriously.

"Oh, and thank you." He smiled, and Leah pressed her hands to her temples. The picture froze.

"Oh, Doctor, I miss you. If Martha was here we'd have each other, but she left to visit with her family and I wish she hadn't. I can't handle this. I'm nobody. You're a mad genius, and Martha's an intelligent, strong person, but what am I? No one. At least when you're here, you make me feel like I'm worth something. And I'm afraid I won't be able to save you."

Leah hurried back to serve the Doctor his breakfast. She opened the door and froze.

"Leah, what have I told you about entering unannounced?" The Doctor said angrily, breaking from his kiss with the nurse. Leah backed out, her heart sinking through the earth.

"This is bad." She set down the tray outside. "This is very, very bad."

"Four. You. Don't let me abandon you." The Doctor told her on the recording again.

"Well, look what you did! What happens in the next month, huh? You fall in love, you plan a wedding, and you move on. And when it's time to leave, you have break her heart. Or…or you choose to stay. What happened to the things you didn't tell me? You didn't think of woman. What the hell should I do? Wake you up and take our chances?" Leah asked.

"Thank you." The Doctor told her with his kind smile, and she sighed.

"Oh, Doctor, you complete idiot. How could you do this?" She asked hopelessly.

The door to Leah's room opened, and Jenny walked in. "Finally!" Leah exclaimed.

"Look what I've got. Mister Poole didn't want his tea so Cook said I could have it. And there's enough for two." Leah said. "What are you standing there for?" She asked the stock-still Jenny. Jenny took a deep, unnatural sniff that made Leah's hair stand on end.

"Are you all right?" She asked.

"I must have a cold coming on." Jenny said creepily.

"All right, well, sit down." Leah said with a sigh.

"What is it?" Jenny asked.

"Mister Smith and Matron. I saw them kissing, and I feel horrible. He's going to leave in a few weeks." Leah said.

"Why?"

"His contract comes to an end. And she's going to be heartbroken."

"Leave for where?"

"Oh, I dunno, Jenny. It's complicated." Leah sighed.

"In what way?" Jenny asked, and Leah stiffened.

"He hasn't told me where he's going. Maybe somewhere exotic." She answered.

"It sounds so interesting. Tell me. Tell me now." Jenny demanded.

"Tea first." Leah said warily.

"Thanks." Jenny said with a smile very unlike her own.

"I could put some jalapenos in the tea, to make it sweet. And how about some potatoes and chocolate? That's sound divine." Leah said.

"I like the sound of that." Jenny responded, and Leah stood up.

"Right. I'll go get it then." Leah stood up and headed to the door. She walked to the stairs before breaking into a sprint. She began running to the Doctor's study.

Something hit the ground behind her, a beam of green light, and she shrieked, running faster.

"Doctor!" Leah shouted, forgetting herself as she ran inside.

"This is ridiculous." Nurse Redfern said.

"Leah, I've warned you." The Doctor said.

"Doctor, they've found us." Leah said.

"Doctor? Leah, my name is Smith. John Smith."

"Where's the watch?" Leah rushed to the mantelpiece, where it laid everyday.

"What have you done with it?" She asked the Doctor.

"What watch?" The Doctor asked.

"The fob watch. Right there." Leah said, panicking, picturing the family bursting in any second.

"Did I? I don't remember." The Doctor asked.

"I can't see what concern it is of yours." Nurse Redfern asked.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude, but shut up." Leah told her sharply.

"Leah!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"We need that watch!" Leah shouted at him. "And I know you've forgotten, but I've just been attacked by Jenny, and she isn't herself, she's an alien, and you've got to tell me, where's the watch?"

"Oh, I see." The Doctor said kindly. "You've been attacked. You must be very afraid. Tell me, who attacked you?"

"Oh you complete arse! This is not you!" Leah gestured to his body.

"Of course I'm me!" The Doctor said with a smile.

"Doctor, look at me! You saved my life from a giant snake! You're 904 years old! You aren't human! You drive the TARDIS and you're really bad at it." Leah screamed. "Wake up!"

"Leah, I never!" The Doctor grabbed her arm and pushed her outside. "I'm sorry, but I cannot have a mad servant on my hands!"

Leah stumbled out and stared at the door in shock as it slammed shut. She began sprinting away again, trying to collect her emotions and her thoughts.

She bumped into a boy. "Sorry!" She shouted.

"Leah?" The boy asked.

"I'm busy, Tim!" Leah yelled as she kept running, hurrying to her bike so she could get to the TARDIS. There was one thing she thought she might need.

She reached into the Doctor's tan coat and grabbed the screwdriver. On second thought, she grabbed her leather jacket from where it sat. It was all the good luck she needed, and she had missed it the past few days.

She pedaled to the village dance and ran up to the front door.

"Oh, staff entrance, I think, Miss." The man said at the door.

"You think wrong." Leah said, walking in. She saw the nurse alone at an empty table and sat down.

"Please, don't. Not again." The nurse said. "And what are you wearing?"

"It's Joan, right?" Leah asked. "I just need to ask you one question. He's different from any other man, hell, any other person you've ever met, isn't he?"

Joan sighed. "Yes."

"And he'll say the weirdest things, won't he? Like Gallifrey? And at first, you think it's just him, but it's not. It's engrained deeper than that. It's who he is. And when you look into his eyes, you can see so much more story than the boring life of John Smith. And they are impossibly old, aren't they?"

"I don't know what you mean." Joan looked frightened, and Leah felt guilty.

"Yes, you do." She said gently. "The Doctor is bigger than both of us. Feelings can't take part of this. John Smith and you are perfect for each other. That's why I feel horrible about what I have to do. But John Smith isn't John Smith. He's the Doctor."

"Oh, now really, Leah. This is getting out of hand. I must insist that you leave." The Doctor said, and Leah held out the sonic to him.

"Do you know what this is?" She asked. He furrowed his brow.

"If you were to name it anything, what would you name it?" Leah asked.

"Leah, what are you wearing?"

Leah looked down. "This is my brother's jacket. I never take it off because he's dead and I miss him and you know that! I told you the first day we met, when you saved my life and made me realize I am not alone."

The Doctor took the screwdriver, looking at Leah silently.

"John, what is that silly thing? John?"

"You're not John Smith. And I think you've known it all along, through your dreams, that sense you don't belong here." Leah said gently. "The Doctor isn't a figment of your imagination. You _are_ the Doctor."

Leah saw the group walk in and stiffened as the man knocked over a hat stand.

"There will be silence! All of you!" He shouted. Someone whispered, and his neck spun inhumanely fast.

"I said, silence!" He roared.

"Mister Clarke, what's going on?" The head of the dance asked. The older man turned a weapon on him and shot. The man disappeared in a green laser of light.

"Forget everything." Leah said to the Doctor.

"We asked for silence!" The younger boy, Baines, said. "Now then, we have a few questions for Mister Smith."

"No, better than that. The teacher. He's the Doctor. I heard them talking." A young girl said, skipping out to join them.

"You took human form." Baines said.

"Of course I'm human. I was born human, as were you, Baines. And Jenny, and you, Mister Clark. What is going on? This is madness!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Ooo, and a human brain, too. Simple, thick and dull." Baines said.

"But he's no good like this." Jenny said.

"We need a Time Lord." Clarke said.

"Easily done." Baines told them, and he raised his gun.

"Change back."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The Doctor said.

"Change back!" Baines shouted.

"Stop!" Leah shouted. "It's me you want. I'm the Time Lord. Take me!" She was bluffing, but, like she had told Joan, the Doctor was bigger than her. His life was worth so much more.

Baines craned his neck. "Ooo, look at your friend, trying to protect you. Sorry, but that isn't going to work."

Someone grabbed her arm and twisted her arm back, whirling her to face the Doctor. The cold barrel of a laser gun pressed against her temple.

"She's your friend, isn't she? Doesn't this scare you enough to change back?" Jenny said, and Leah looked at the Doctor pleadingly, though she knew he could do nothing. Her entire body was shaking in fear.

"I don't know what you mean!" The Doctor shouted.

"Wait a minute. The maid told me about Smith and the Matron. That woman, there." Jenny said.

"Then let's have you." Clarke said. He grabbed Joan and pulled her close, pointing a gun at her neck.

"Have you enjoyed it, Doctor, being human?" Baines asked commandingly. "Has it taught you wonderful things? Are you better, richer, wiser? Then let's see you answer this. Which one of them do you want us to kill? Maid or matron? Your friend or your lover?

Your choice."


	10. Chapter 10

**The next chapter guys, is up. The conclusion of the Family of Blood. I enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope you enjoy reading it.**

**Please, please review!**

"Make your decision, Mister Smith." Jenny said fiercely.

"Perhaps if that human heart breaks, the Time Lord will emerge." Baines said evilly.

There was a whisper in a corner of the hall, a shimmer of gold, a voice that said, "Time Lord." Leah snapped to it as the Family did.

"It's him!" Baines shouted, and Leah acted. She grabbed the gun, whirled Jenny in front of her, and pointed the gun at Baines.

"Don't you move." She warned.

"Oh, the maid is full of fire." Baines said.

"That's it!" Leah said angrily. She fired the gun over Baines' head, where it struck the opposite wall. "I'm not a maid!"

"Careful, Son of Mine. This is all for you so that you can live forever." Clarke warned.

"Shoot you down." Baines said.

"Go ahead." Leah said.

"Would you really pull the trigger? Looks too scared." Baines asked.

"I'd do it." Leah said. "I'd do it for the Doctor."

Baines smiled, and he lowered his gun.

"Everyone, out!" Leah shouted. "There's a door on the side. It's over there. Go on. Doctor, get them out! Smith, you!"

"Do what she said. Everybody out, now. Don't argue, Mister Jackson. They're mad. That's all we need to know. Susan, Miss Cooper, outside, all of you." Joan said.

"Thank god for women." Leah muttered.

"Move yourself, boy. Back to the school, quickly." The Doctor said.

"Mister Smith, you too." Leah said, keeping her eyes on Baines.

"What about you?" He asked.

"Look, no offense, but I don't need to worry about you. Get Joan out." Leah said. The Doctor ran, and Leah shoved Jenny toward her family, keeping her gun up. Baines raised his as well.

"If you make one wrong move, I'll shoot Baines here." Leah told them.

"She's almost brave, this one." Baines said.

"I should have taken her form. Much more fun. So much spirit." Jenny said, walking forward. Leah stepped back.

"Is Jenny gone?" Leah asked.

"She is consumed. Her body's mine."

"She's dead."

"Yes. And she went with precious little dignity. All that," Jenny's body let out a little shriek, "screaming."

Something grabbed Leah from behind, and she spun away, dashing for the door.

"Get the gun!" baines shouted, and Leah dropped it, choosing to keep her life rather than the weapon.

"I told you to run! Go, go, go!" Leah shouted at Joan and the Doctor. "You're rubbish, go!" She took the lead as they sprinted away.

The Doctor began ringing a bell the moment they got back to the school.

"What are you doing?" Leah asked.

"Maybe one man can't fight them, but this school teaches us to stand together. Take arms! Take arms!" The Doctor shouted.

"You're asking boys to fight?" Leah asked.

"You want me to fight, don't you? Take arms! Take arms!" The Doctor shouted at the top of his voice.

"I say sir, what's the matter?" A boy asked him.

"Enemy at the door, Hutchinson. Enemy at the door. Take arms!" The Doctor shouted.

"You are asking boys to fight for you! Not for their country, for you! And it is selfish." Leah told him over the noise.

"Redfern, maintain position over the stable yard. Faster now. That's it." The Doctor ignored her as they headed to the armory.

"They're children! You can't ask them to die for you!" Leah shouted at him, completely furious at everything, at how different he was from the Doctor she knew.

"They're cadets, Miss Jones. They are trained to defend the King and all his citizens and properties." The Doctor told her.

"What in thunder's name is this? Before I devise an excellent and endless series of punishments for each and every one of you, could someone explain very simply and immediately exactly what is going on?" The headmaster strode into the armory, where the boys were arming their guns.

"Headmaster, I have to report the school is under attack." The Doctor said.

"Really? Is that so? Perhaps you and I should have a word in private." Headmaster Rocastle said.

"No, I promise you, sir. I was in the village with Matron. It's Baines, sir. Jeremy Baines and Mister Clark from Oakham Farm. They've gone mad, sir. They've got guns. They've already murdered people in the village. I saw it happen." The Doctor explained.

"Matron, is that so?"

"I'm afraid it's true, sir."

"Murder on our own soil?"

"I saw it. Yes."

"Perhaps you did well then, Mister Smith. What makes you think the danger's coming here?"

"Well, sir, they said-" The Doctor began.

"Baines threatened Mister Smith, sir. Said he'd follow him. We don't know why."

"Very well. You boys, remain on guard. Mister Snell, telephone for the police. Mister Philips, with me. We shall investigate."

"Don't! They'll kill you!" Leah said.

"Mister Smith, it seems your favorite servant is giving me advice. You will control her, sir." Rocastle said, and Leah gritted her teeth in anger. She was sick of being treated like dirt, like nothing.

She sighed. "The watch. That's all I need." She whispered, and she rushed out.

Joan followed her. "I can help." She said, and Leah hesitated.

"I'll need it." She said, and they went inside the Doctor's study.

"I am sorry, Joan. I would never want to break you two up." Leah said.

"Then why do it at all?"

"Because the Doctor has saved the planet more times than I can count, and I owe it to him to bring him back to life."

Joan swallowed. "So why is this watch important?"

"The Doctor stored his Time-lord consciousness in it. If you open it, he becomes an alien again."

"And alien means not from abroad, I take it."

"The Doctor, John Smith, he was born on a planet named Gallifrey."

"A different species."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Then tell me. In this fairy tale, who are you?" Joan asked.

"I'm just a friend." Leah said quickly.

"And you're human, I take it?" Joan asked.

"Yes. I'm a writer. And my friend Martha, she also travels with him, she's gonna be a doctor." Leah said.

"That is preposterous. Women cannot become doctors! And I have yet to hear of a successful female author."

"Times change. This is why I've been so angry! Can't you see how they talk down to us, to me? How I'm treated as lesser because I'm a maid? It isn't right."

"I must go." Joan said quickly.

"I just need to find that watch. Then we can stop them." Leah said.

"Those boys are going to fight. I might not be a doctor, but I'm still their nurse. They need me." Joan told her.

Leah kept searching. She could hear the boys getting ready outside, and she looked out the window.

Shots began as walking scarecrows advanced on the school. Leah watched in fear as they fell one by one. But they weren't alive. They would get up in a few minutes, she was sure.

She noticed a bobbing red balloon coming out of the dark, and she ran downstairs.

"Headmaster, don't! Don't go near her!" She shouted at Rocastle, who was moving closer to the girl Leah knew was possessed.

"You were told to be quiet!" Rocastle said sharply.

"She's part of it! Stay away from her. Matron, tell him!" Leah said, looking at the innocent child.

"I think that-I don't know. I think you should stay back, Headmaster." Joan said.

"Mister Smith?" Leah asked.

"She was, she was with, with Baines in the village." The Doctor said.

"Mister Smith, I've seen many strange sights this night, but there is no cause on God's Earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, sir! Come with me." Rocastle said.

"You're funny." The girl said.

"That's right. Now take my hand." The headmaster said, reaching out.

"So funny." The girl said, and she whipped out her gun. The headmaster vaporized with a scream.

"Now who's going to shoot me!" The girl challenged. "Any of you, really?"

"Put down your guns." The Doctor said, and Leah looked at him with surprise.

"But sir, the Headmaster." A boy said.

"I'll not see this happen. Not anymore. You will retreat in an orderly fashion back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way." The Doctor said.

"But sir." Hutchinson said.

"I said, lead the way."

"Well, go on, then. Run!" Baines shouted from where he should, and he shot his gun into the sky.

"Run!" Leah grabbed Joan and pulled her along, back towards the school.

"Let's go. Quick as you can." The Doctor shoved boys out the back entrance.

"The village isn't safe! Find somewhere safe, and stick together!" Leah told them.

"And you, ladies." The Doctor said.

"Not till we've got the boys out." Joan told him

"Now, I insist. The pair of you, just go. If there are any more boys inside, I'll find them." The Doctor said. He opened a door to head back inside. Leah saw the scarecrows as the Doctor slammed it shut and turned the lock.

"I think, retreat." He said, and they ran outside.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Leah heard someone calling, and she stopped, ducking behind bushes. Joan and the Doctor followed suit.

It was the older man of the Family, along with at least a dozen scarecrow soldiers.

"Doctor!" He shouted, and Leah looked behind him, to where the TARDIS was glowing brightly. She felt the key under her shirt.

"Damn it!" She said, and the Doctor looked at her in shock.

"Come back, Doctor. Come home. Come and claim your prize." The man shouted as the rest of the Family approached.

"Out you come, Doctor. There's a good boy. Come to the Family." Baines said.

"Time to end it now." Jenny called, and Leah looked at the Doctor, who was squinting at the TARDIS.

"It looks familiar, doesn't it?" She asked.

"Come out, Doctor. Come to us!" Jenny shouted.

"I've never seen it in my life." The Doctor said.

"It's called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space." Leah said softly.

"I'm sorry, John, but you wrote about it. The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box." Joan said gently.

The Doctor's face contorted in a gross sob. "I'm not. I'm John Smith. That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life, and his job, and his love." Tears ran down his face, and Leah looked away. She didn't want to see him reduced to this. "Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"

"Yes. Yes, he is." Joan said.

"Why can't I stay?" The Doctor asked.

"Because the Doctor is the only one who can save us." Leah said.

"What am I, then? Nothing. I'm just a story." The Doctor said loudly, and he took off running again.

"This way. I think I know somewhere we can hide." Joan said when they reached a fork in the road.

"We've got to keep going." The Doctor said.

"Just listen to me for once, John. Now, follow me." Joan ran down the side road, and Leah followed. Her feet pounding against the ground echoed her heartbeat.

"Oh, here we are. It should be empty." Joan was breathing heavily as she looked at the cottage. "Oh, it's a long time since I've run that far."

"Someone must live here." Leah said.

"If I'm right, no one does." Joan said. She walked up to the front door and opened it.

"Hello?" Joan asked, and she stepped inside. "No one home. We should be safe here."

"Who lived here?" Leah asked.

"Er, the Cartwrights. That little girl at the school, she's Lucy Cartwright, or she's taken Lucy Cartwright's form. If she came home this afternoon and if the parents tried to stop their little girl, then they were vanished." Joan said. She touched the teapot set on the table. "Stone cold. How easily I accept these ideas."

"I must go to them, before anyone else dies." The Doctor said, and Leah looked at him. She felt tired of fighting.

"You can't. Leah, there must be something we can do." Joan asked.

"The watch was our only chance. The Family will destroy everything. They'd kill everyone trying to get to the Doctor." Leah said.

"You're this Doctor's companion. Can't you help? What exactly do you do for him? Why does he need you?" The Doctor yelled at Leah, and she flinched.

"I don't know. Because he wants a friend, I suppose." Leah said. "I don't think anyone stays for long."

"And that's what you want me to become." The Doctor asked her desperately, and Leah heard a knock at the door.

"What if it's them?" Joan asked, and Leah moved toward it cautiously.

"Scarecrows don't knock." She answered, and she opened the door.

Tim, the boy from the school, stood there. "I brought you this." He said, and he held forward the watch.

"Please, Mister Smith, hold it." Leah said, the watch in her hands. She felt like she was holding the Doctor's soul.

"I won't." The Doctor said.

"I'm not asking you to open it, not yet. Just hold it."

"It told me to find you. It wants to be held." Tim said.

"You've had this watch all this time? Why didn't you return it?" Joan asked.

"Because it was waiting. And because I was so scared of the Doctor." Tim admitted.

"Why?" Joan asked as the Doctor straightened.

"Because I've seen him. He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun."

"Stop it." The Doctor said.

"He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe."

"Stop it! I said stop it."

"And he's wonderful." Tim said with a smile.

"I've still got this. The journal." Joan held it up.

"Those are just stories." The Doctor said.

"Now we know that's not true. Perhaps there's something in here." Joan said, and the cottage shook as a big bang went off.

"What's happening?'" Leah asked, running to the window.

"They're destroying the village." Joan said.

"The watch." The Doctor took it from Leah and held it in his hands.

"John, don't." Joan said.

"Stop!" Leah told her. "Don't you see? He has to do this."

"Can you hear it?" Tim asked him.

"I think he's asleep. Waiting to awaken." The Doctor said.

"Why did he speak to me?" Tim asked.

"Oh, low level telepathic field." The Doctor said, and he sounded like himself. Leah grinned amid the madness. "You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing-" The Doctor stiffened, and his eyes became frightened again.

"Is that how he talks?" He asked Leah.

"Please, John, just open it." Leah said.

"You knew this all along and yet you watched while Nurse Redfern and I-" The Doctor looked like he was about to cry.

"I didn't realize until it was too late, and it wouldn't have made a difference. I was a servant girl. I didn't think, even changed, the Doctor would have-"

"Fallen in love? That didn't even occur to him?" The Doctor asked.

"No." Leah said.

"Then what sort of man is that? And now you expect me to die?" The Doctor asked, a tear running down his face.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. It had to end, though! The Doctor told me the Family's was dying, and that's why they need to consume a Time Lord. We just had to wait three months for them to die." Leah told him.

"So your job was to execute me!"

"Yes! Because the Doctor trusts me! He knew I would go through with it to save the lives of every person on the planet! You don't know him like I do! He's wonderful and brilliant and terrifying, but he gave me a home! He never asks for thanks, never wants to be recognized. He saves people because he can, and because he knows that no person is unimportant. He is the storm in the sun, but he's also the peace after it's all over. He's the bravest, most honorable man I've ever known." Leah said, and she took a breath. "Please, Mister Smith, be brave. Be brave like my Doctor."

There was another explosion. "It's getting closer." Tim told them.

The Doctor gasped. "I should have thought of it before. I can give them this. Just the watch. Then they can leave and I can stay as I am."

"You can't!" Leah shouted.

"If they want the Doctor, they can have him." He retorted.

"The Family will kill everyone. They'll kill Tim, they'll kill her, and they'll rip me limb from limb for trying to stop them!"

"If they get what they want, then, then-" The Doctor stuttered.

"Then it all ends in destruction." Joan said, holding up the journal.

"I never read to the end, but those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer, for war across the stars for every child. Leah, Timothy, would you leave us alone, please?"

Outside, Leah wrapped Tim in a hug and pressed her cheek to his head.

"The Doctor wouldn't let me do this," she murmured, "but next year, war breaks out. The Great War that every major country will fight in."

"I know." Tim said. "The watch told me."

"Just, be careful. Don't go to fight, please." Leah said, swallowing a lump in her throat.

The door swung open and the Doctor stepped out.

Leah stood up hesitantly, facing him.

He smiled, and she laughed.

"Oh, I missed you!" She exclaimed, and he wrapped her in a hug, lifting her off her feet.

"I've got to go." He said, releasing her. "Watch after them."

Leah's smile faded as she nodded, looking back at Joan, whose eyes were blood shot.

"Come on. Let's get inside." She said as the Doctor ran off.

They sat down at the window, watching as the bombs kept falling.

"I'm sorry, Joan." Leah murmured. "If there was a way to keep both, you know that's the way we would have chosen."

"I know." Joan said, and a massive explosion rolled into the sky, away from town, in the woods.

Leah smiled. "He did it. The Doctor did it."

Leah waited for an hour and a half by the TARDIS. The Doctor was off imprisoning the Family forever, as punishment. He had told Leah it was so they wouldn't try anything, but she thought it was more justice for what they had forced him to do, what he had become. He was also visiting Joan, who Leah had said goodbye to already. She worried for the woman's wellbeing.

The Doctor walked over the top of the hill, back into his clothes, and Leah suppressed a smile at her happiness that he was home.

"Right then. Molto bene." The Doctor said. Leah could see unhappiness clouding his eyes.

"How is she?" She asked.

"Time we moved on."

"If you wanted, I could try-"

"Time we moved on." The Doctor said, and Leah nodded in understanding.

"I just wanted to say, I meant it, what I said." Leah added.

"I know." The Doctor said, and he smiled. "I never said. Thanks for looking after me." He reached for her, and she grinned as she hugged him, burying her face in the familiar smell of him, the scent of snow and pine trees and fire.

"You've saved my life enough times. It was about time I repaid the favor." She said.

"Doctor. Leah." Tim said from their side, and Leah faced him with a smile.

"Tim Timothy Timber." The Doctor said happily.

"I just wanted to say goodbye. And thank you. Because I've seen the future and I now know what must be done. It's coming, isn't it? The biggest war ever."

"I told you, you don't have to fight." Leah said.

"I think we do." Tim told her.

"Don't get hurt, Tim. I want to be able to see you when you're old." Leah said.

"You too, Leah. And be safe, travelling around with him." Tim said.

"Tim, I'd be honored if you'd take this." The Doctor handed Tim the fob watch.

"I can't hear anything." Tim said.

"No, it's just a watch now. But keep it with you, for good luck."

"Take care." Leah said, and she kissed the top of his forehead. She would miss him, one of the few who were actually polite to her as a maid. She stepped inside the TARDIS and looked out.

"You'll like this bit." The Doctor told him, and he stepped inside, closing the door.

"Do you think he survives?" Leah asked wistfully as they took off.

"I'm sure of it." The Doctor said as they landed. Leah stepped out, and the Doctor handed her a poppy pin.

She looked out over the grass to a memorial. An old man sat in a wheelchair along with a few other old men.

"They have no lot in our labor of the daytime. They sleep beyond England's foam. They went with songs to the battle." The vicar said, her voice carrying. "They were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted."

The man in the wheelchair turned to look at the pair as Leah pinned a poppy to the Doctor lapel. Leah smiled warmly at Tim from where he sat, and he turned back around.

"They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them."


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey y'all! So here's the latest chapter, I'm kind of running out of chapters and so sorry if updates are a bit infrequent. I'm writing other stuff and it's appealing to me more at the moment…anyway here's the next chapter. Thanks to my reviewers, and please review!**

"Cardiff!" The Doctor exclaimed as they landed.

"Cardiff?" Martha asked.

"Of all the places-" Leah said.

"Ah, but the thing about Cardiff, it's built on a rift in time and space, just like California and the San Andreas Fault, but the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel." The Doctor told

"So it's a pit stop." Martha asked.

"Exactly. Should only take twenty seconds. The rift's been active." The Doctor said curiously.

"There was this huge earthquake in Cardiff a couple years ago. That was you?" Leah asked.

"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen. A long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then." The Doctor said.

"What do you mean?" Leah asked, but the Doctor didn't answer.

"Finito. All powered up." He said instead, and Leah raised an eyebrow as they took off.

Suddenly, they were hit with a bang. Sparks flew in the air and a shriek escaped Leah's mouth as she stumbled to the side.

The Doctor just caught her, pushing her upright again.

"Thanks." She said breathlessly.

"Whoa! What's that?" Martha shouted.

"We're accelerating into the future." The Doctor said as they kept rocketing around. "The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion? What? The year one hundred trillion? That's impossible."

"Why? What happens then?" Martha asked.

"We're going to the end of the universe." The Doctor said.

They hit the ground, hard. Leah managed to keep her balance, but just barely.

"Well, we've landed." The Doctor said.

"Landed where?" Leah asked.

"I don't know." The Doctor said. He looked concerned by the fact.

"Say that again. That's rare." Martha said with a smile.

"Not even the Time Lords came this far." The Doctor told her warningly. "We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go." His voice was ominous before he broke into a grin and dashed out the door.

"For a second I thought he was serious." Leah muttered to Martha as they walked outside.

It was dark and cold outside. Wind blew across the barren, rocky landscape with only a few low-growing bushes covering the ground. The land rose and fell in cliffs and chasms everywhere.

"Oh my God!" Martha exclaimed, and Leah turned to see a man lying on the ground a few feet away. She ran to his side as Martha felt his wrist.

"Can't get a pulse. Hold on. You've got that medical kit thing." She said, and she dashed up.

"Hello again. Oh, I'm sorry." The Doctor murmured to the man as Leah began performing CPR.

"You know him." She said while pumping on his chest.

"Oh yes. Old friends." The Doctor said shortly.

"Here we go. Get out of the way." Martha said, and Leah scrabbled backwards. "It's a bit odd, though. Not very hundred trillion. That coat's more like World War Two." Martha added.

"Who is he?" Leah asked the Doctor, who sighed.

"I think he came with us."

"How do you mean, from Earth?" Martha asked.

"Must have been clinging to the outside of the Tardis all the way through the vortex. Well, that's very him."

"What, do you know him?" Martha asked.

"Friend of mine. Used to travel with me, back in the old days." The Doctor said, and Leah kneeled on the opposite side of the body.

"But he's-I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat. There's nothing. He's dead." Martha said, and the body heaved upward. Leah let out a scream as the man took a deep breath.

"Oh my god! Are you alright?" She bent over him. "Just, um, keep breathing. Who are you?" She looked down at his handsome face.

"Captain Jack Harkness." The man smiled winningly despite the fact he had just died. "And who are you?"

"Leah. Leah Davis."

"Nice to meet you, Leah Davis." Captain Jack Harkness stuck out a hand, and Leah shook it, blushing.

"Oh, don't start." The Doctor said in exasperation.

"I was only saying hello." Jack Harkness said.

"I don't mind." Leah told the Doctor quickly. "Really," She looked back at Jack, "I don't mind."

They stood up, and Jack looked at Martha.

"You have two now?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"Hi," he smiled at Martha, "Captain Jack Harkness."

She grinned. "Martha Jones."

"Doctor." Jack said. His tone became slightly less friendly.

"Captain." The Doctor said in his usual tone.

"Good to see you."

"And you. Same as ever. Although, have you had work done?"

"You can talk." Jack said with a scoff.

The Doctor looked puzzled before his face stretched in realization. "Oh yes, the face. Regeneration. How did you know this was me?"

"The police box kind of gives it away. I've been following you for a long time. You abandoned me."

"Did I? Busy life. Moving on." The Doctor said flippantly, and Leah gave him a weird glance.

"Just got to ask. The Battle of Canary Wharf. I saw the list of the dead. It said Rose Tyler." Jack asked quietly.

"Oh, no! Sorry, she's alive." The Doctor told him, and Jack's mouth stretched wide.

"You're kidding."

"Parallel world, safe and sound. And Mickey, and her mother."

"Oh, yes!" Jack hugged the Doctor tightly.

"Good old Rose." Martha muttered, but Leah thought she was the only one to hear.

"Martha, stop." Leah murmured to her.

"Oh, come off it! It's completely ridiculous." Martha muttered.

"It doesn't matter. She makes them happy. Let them be happy." Leah told her as they set off across the scrubland.

"So there I was, stranded in the year two hundred one hundred, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me. But I had this." Jack told them, tapping a bracelet he wore.

"I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel."

"Oh, excuse me. That is not time travel. It's like, I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper." The Doctor protested.

"Oh ho. Boys and their toys." Martha said teasingly.

"All right, so I bounced. I thought 21st century, the best place to find the Doctor, except that I got it a little wrong. Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless." Jack explained.

"Told you." The Doctor said, and Leah elbowed him jokingly.

"I had to live through the entire twentieth century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me." Jack said.

"There is no way you're over a hundred." Leah said.

"And looking good, don't you think?" He asked flirtatiously, and she smirked. "So I went to the time rift, based myself there because I knew you'd come back to refuel. Until finally I get a signal on this detecting you and here we are."

"But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Doctor?" Martha asked.

"I was busy." The Doctor said.

"Is that what happens, though, seriously? Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?" Martha asked, and Leah shot her a warning.

"Not if you're blonde." Jack said, and Leah held back a laugh at the Doctor's expression.

"Oh, she was blonde? Oh, what a surprise!" Martha exclaimed.

"Oi! I'm blonde!" Leah retorted.

"You three! We're at the end of the universe, all right? Right at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy blogging! Come on." The Doctor told them sternly, and they kept walking to the edge of a cliff.

Leah gaped at the city built into the wall of the canyon, carved out walkways and stone skyscrapers. But empty.

"Is that a city?" Martha asked.

"A city or a hive, or a nest, or a conglomeration." The Doctor said. "Like it was grown. But look, there. That's like pathways, roads? Must have been some sort of life, long ago."

"It's empty. Why?" Leah asked.

"Time. Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone. This isn't just night." Leah looked up to see no stars, no moons. "All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing."

"They must have an atmospheric shell. We should be frozen to death." Jack said.

"Thanks for that cheery bit of news." Leah said sarcastically.

"Well, Martha, Leah, and I, maybe. Not so sure about you, Jack." The Doctor said, and Leah looked at him curiously.

"What about the people? Does no one survive?" Martha asked sadly.

"I suppose we have to hope life will find a way." The Doctor told her gently.

"Well, he's not doing too bad." Jack said, and Leah looked down at the human running at top speed below them.

A group of people brandishing torches chased after him. "Human!" One screamed.

"Is it me, or does that look like a hunt? Come on!" The Doctor took off running down the hill, toward the man.

"Oh, I've missed this." Jack said, and Leah grinned. They ran in front of the fleeing man, and Jack caught him.

"I've got you." He said.

"They're coming! They're coming!" The man shouted.

The group of people rounded the corner, and Leah took in their tattoos, piercings, and sharp teeth briefly as Jack drew a pistol.

"Jack, don't you dare!" The Doctor screamed, and Jack fired three times into the air. The pack stopped.

"What the hell?" Leah asked.

"There's more of them. We've got to keep going." The man said, panicking.

"I've got a ship nearby. It's safe. It's not far, it's over there." The Doctor turned, and Leah looked back to see another group of the hunt block their way.

"Maybe not." She remarked.

"We're close to the silo. If we get to the silo, then we're safe." The man told them.

"Silo?" The Doctor asked.

"Silo." Jack said.

"Silo for me." Martha said.

"Then can we go!" Leah said nervously, and they kept running. Shouts erupted behind them and Leah pictured being dragged back to some lair to be eaten.

"Look!" Martha screamed, and Leah took in the massive cylinder barred by chain-link fences.

"It's the Futurekind! Open the gate!" The man shouted as they approached.

"Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth!" The guard screamed at them as they crashed against the gate.

"Show him your teeth." The man said, and Leah stretched her mouth wide.

"Human! Let them in! Let them in!" The guard shouted, and the gates opened. The man was the first inside, and Leah slipped through right before the Doctor, who came in last.

"Close! Close! Close!" The guard yelled as the hunting party ran toward them. The man fired his gun at their feet, and they stopped. The gates clanged shut the rest of the way, and Leah sighed in relief. The Doctor took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Humans. Humani. Make feast." The lead hunter said through hissing.

"Go back to where you came from. I said, go back. Back!" The guard fired more shots.

"Oh, don't tell him to put his gun down." Jack said.

"He's not my responsibility." The Doctor retorted.

"And I am? Huh, that makes a change."

"Kind watch you. Kind hungry." The lead hunter told them, and they backed away like animals.

"Thanks for that." The Doctor told the guard.

"Right. Let's get you inside." The guard responded.

"My name is Padra Toc Shafe Cane. Tell me. Just tell me, can you take me to Utopia?" The man asked him.

"Oh yes, sir. Yes, I can."

"What's Utopia?" Leah murmured to the Doctor.

"I think we're going to find out." He responded.

"It looks like a box, a big blue box. I'm sorry, but I really need it back. It's stuck out there." The Doctor told the commanding officer.

"I'm sorry, but my family were heading for the silo. Did they get here? My mother is Kistane Shafe Cane. My brother's name is Beltone." Padra said.

"The computers are down but you can check the paperwork. Creet! Passenger needs help." The commander called. A little boy with wild blond hair came out of the darkness with a clipboard.

"Right. What do you need?" The boy, Creet asked the man.

"A blue box, you said." The commander, Atillo, Leah thought his name was.

"Big, tall, wooden. Says Police." The Doctor told him.

"We're driving out for the last water collection. I'll see what I can do." Atillo told him, and the Doctor nodded.

"Thank you."

"Come on." Creet said.

"How old are you, Creet?" Leah asked him.

"Old enough to work. This way." Creet told her.

"Kistane Shafe Cane. Kistane Shafe Cane. Kistane and Biltone Shafe Cane? We're looking for a Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane." Creet called as they moved down the hallway filled with people.

"The Shafe Canes, anyone? Kistane from Red Force Five? My name's Padra." Padra asked.

"Anyone? Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane? Anyone know the Shafe Cane family? Anyone called Shafe Cane?" Creet asked.

"It's like a refugee camp." Martha asked.

"Stinking. Oh, sorry. No offense. Not you." Jack told a man who looked offended by the comment.

"Don't you see that? The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, you might have spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas, and another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental humans." The Doctor said.

"Did you just say clouds of gas?" Leah asked.

"Kistane Shafe Cane." Creet yelled loudly.

"End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable! That's the word. Indomitable! Ha!" The Doctor said joyfully.

"Is there a Kistane Shafe Cane?" Creet shouted, and a woman stood.

"That's me." She said.

"Mother?" Padra asked.

"Oh, my God. Padra."

"Beltone?" Padra asked as another man stood up. He ran to hug his family, holding them close to him.

"It's not all bad news." Martha said with a smile.

"Captain Jack Harkness." Leah saw Jack smiling at a young man. "And who are you?" She wasn't too surprised at this. She'd seen the way he looked at the Doctor.

"Stop it." The Doctor warned.

"Give us a hand with this." The Doctor said as he scanned a door. "It's half deadlocked. I need you to overwrite the code. Let's find out where we are."

Suddenly, the door slid open, and the Doctor tumbled forward. Jack caught the back of his jacket and pulled him back before Leah could even gasp.

"Gotcha." Jack said.

"Thanks."

"How did you cope without me?"

"Now that is what I call a rocket." Martha said, and Leah took in the grand enormity of the ship.

"They're not refugees, they're passengers." The Doctor said.

"Utopia must be the destination." Leah said in realization.

"The perfect place. Hundred trillion years, it's the same old dream. You recognize those engines?" The Doctor asked Jack.

"Nope. Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot, though." Jack said.

"Boiling. But if the universe is falling apart, what does Utopia mean?" The Doctor asked rhetorically.

An old man popped up behind Leah, and she jumped in surprise.

"The Doctor?" He asked Jack

"That's me." The Doctor said, and the man spun around.

"Good! Good! Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good." The man said as he pulled the Doctor away from the door.

"It's good apparently." The Doctor muttered back to the others with a little smile on his lips.

They entered a laboratory, and Leah immediately noticed the strange alien woman, covered in a blue shell like an insect with two sharp prongs coming out of her lower jaw.

"Chan welcome tho." She said, and Leah looked at her, puzzled.

"Now, this is the gravitissimal accelerator. It's past its best but it works." The scientist said.

"Chan welcome tho." The alien repeated.

"And over here is the footprint impellor system. Now, do you know anything about end-time gravity?" The scientist asked the Doctor.

"Um, hi. Who are you?" Leah asked the alien.

"Chan Chantho tho."

"Chantho?"

"Chan yes tho."

"But we can't get it to harmonize." The scientist said in the background.

"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack said to Chantho, who smiled shyly.

"Stop it." The Doctor said for the third time.

"Can't I say hello to anyone?" Jack asked.

"Chan I do not protest tho." Chantho said.

"Maybe later, Blue." Jack told her.

"Is your own name your pickup line?" Leah asked.

"Gotta have something." Jack responded. "So, what have we got here?"

"And all this feeds into the rocket?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah, except without a stable footprint, you see, we're unable to achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonize the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it. What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?" The scientist asked.

"Well, er, basically, sort of-" The Doctor scrunched up his face, "not a clue."

"Nothing?" The professor asked.

"I'm not from around these parts. I've never seen a system like it. Sorry." The Doctor looked at him apologetically.

"No, no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. There's been so little help."

"Oh, my God. You've got a hand?" Martha exclaimed, and Leah turned to see her, indeed, holding a hand incased in a metal case filled with bubbling blue liquid.

"Why do you have a hand in a jar in your bag?" Leah asked Jack.

"But that, that, that's my hand." The Doctor said, and Leah looked at him instantly in shock.

"I said I had a Doctor detector." Jack shrugged.

"Chan is this a tradition amongst your people tho?" Chantho asked.

"Not on my street. What do you mean, that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them!" Martha said.

"Long story. I lost my hand, Christmas Day, in a swordfight." The Doctor said, crouching beside the hand.

"So you grew another one?" Leah asked, dumbfounded.

"Er, yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah." The Doctor waved his hand. "Hello."

"Might I ask, what species are you?" The professor asked.

"Time Lord, last of. Heard of them? Legend or anything? Not even a myth?" The Doctor whistled as he got no response. "Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling."

"Chan it is said that I am the last of my species too tho." Chantho said.

"Sorry, what was your name?" The Doctor asked.

"My assistant and good friend, Chantho. A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Malcassairo, before we took refuge." The professor explained.

"The city outside, that was yours?"

"Chan the conglomeration died tho." Chantho said sadly.

"Conglomeration! That's what I said." The Doctor said, and Leah glared at him.

"You're supposed to say sorry." Jack said pointedly.

"Oh, yes. Sorry." The Doctor bowed his head respectfully.

"Chan most grateful tho." Chantho told him.

"You grew another hand?" Martha asked incredulously.

"Hello, again. It's fine. Look, really, it's me." The Doctor told her. Leah had become more adjusted to simply moving on.

"All this time and you're still full of surprises." Martha said with a smile.

"Chan you are most unusual tho." Chantho told him.

"Well-" The Doctor said sheepishly.

"So what about those things outside? The Beastie Boys. What are they?" Jack asked.

"We call them the Futurekind, which is a myth in itself, but it's feared they are what we will become, unless we reach Utopia." The professor explained.

"And Utopia is?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, every human knows of Utopia. Where have you been?" The professor scoffed.

"Bit of a hermit." The Doctor said.

"A hermit with friends?"

"Hermits United. We meet up every ten years and swap stories about caves. It's good fun, for a hermit. So, uh, Utopia?"

The professor seemed to shake off the weird. "The call came from across the stars, over and over again. Come to Utopia. Originating from that point."

"Where is that?"

"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness, out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter reefs, calling us in. The last of the humans scattered across the night."

"What do you think's out there?"

"We can't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?"

"Oh, yes. And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic. That's a good sign someone's out there. And that's, oh, that's a navigation matrix." The Doctor said, but Leah noticed the strange expression on the professor's face. "So you can fly without stars to guide you."

"Professor?" Leah asked, and he didn't respond.

"Professor? Professor? Professor." The Doctor repeated, and finally, the man turned.

"I, er, ahem, right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now if you could leave, thank you." He said hurriedly.

"You all right?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. And busy."

"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it? This footprint mechanism thing, it's not working."

"We'll find a way." The professor said stubbornly.

"You're stuck on this planet." The Doctor said frankly. "And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're going to fly."

"Well, it's better to let them live in hope." The professor said.

"Quite right, too. And I must say, Professor er, what was it?"

"Yana."

"Professor Yana. This new science is well beyond me, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So, I wonder, what would happen if I did this?" The Doctor grabbed a loose cable and pointed the sonic at it. He gave it a tug, and the machine flared to life.

"Chan it's working tho!" Chantho exclaimed.

"But how did you do that?" Yana asked.

"Oh, we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you. I'm brilliant." The Doctor grinned happily.

As people piled into the rocket, Leah, Martha, and Chantho watched eagerly. Leah spotted a mop of blonde hair.

"What's your name, um, Creet?" She called, and he turned.

"That's right, miss." He said.

"Aren't you with anyone?" She asked him.

"No, miss. There's just me." Creet said, and Leah nodded.

"Good luck in Utopia. What do you think it's like there?"

"My mum used to say the skies are made of diamonds." Creet said excitedly, and Leah grinned.

"Well, that'll be splendid. Go on, then, get your seat." Leah gave him a gentle push toward the line, and he dashed off.

"Oh, I hope they make it." Leah sighed.

"Why wouldn't they? They have the signal, the rocket, everything." Martha said.

"I don't know. It's like those books you read in school, about Utopia, like The Giver, and such. The Utopia is never as perfect as it sounds." Leah said. "It's probably nothing."

"Chan I believe it must be tho." Chantho said, and they kept walking back to the lab.

"Extra power." The Doctor rolled a cable from the TARDIS to the command panel, and Leah smiled at the sight of the box. "Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting? Jack, you're in charge of the retro feeds."

"Oh, am I glad to see that thing." Martha said.

"I feel the exact same way." Leah echoed.

Yana grabbed a metal pole, leaning on it heavily, and Leah looked at him in concern.

"Chan Professor, are you all right tho?" Chantho asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. Just get on with it." Yana told them.

"Connect those circuits into the spar, same as that last lot. But quicker." Jack ordered Martha.

"Ooo, yes, sir." Martha said sarcastically, hurrying off.

"Leah." Jack said, and she followed him over.

"Help me plug these in, will you?" He asked.

"Mm-hmm." Leah began plugging in the fifty-plus cords.

"What Martha was saying earlier, about the Doctor leaving, you know she's right, don't you?" Jack murmured close to her ear. Leah stopped working momentarily before resuming.

"I know." She said just as quietly. "But I don't want to think about when I have to leave. I'd rather think about being with him now."

"Just be prepared. No one can stay with him forever." Jack warned.

"Thanks." Leah said, and she hesitated.

"Did he love her? Rose?" She asked.

"Are you asking out of personal interest, or…?"

"I'm asking for him. Whenever she gets brought up, he acts okay, but I know he's not. He gets this weary, lost look in his eye, and sometimes he'll say something and I know he's remembering her."

Jack seemed to think about the question carefully. "I would say he loved her, yes. But for a Time Lord, a few months, a year, it's nothing. Give him time."

A short time later, they were ready.

"Send your man inside." Yana told the commander. "We'll keep the levels down from here."

"He's inside. And good luck to him." The commander told them.

"Captain, Leah, keep the dials below the red." Yana ordered them.

"How the hell do you do that exactly?" Leah asked Jack.

"Just spin that dial if it starts to climb. I'll do the rest."

"Where is that room?" The Doctor asked Yana.

"It's underneath the rocket. Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."

"Stet? Never heard of it."

"You wouldn't want to. But it's safe enough, if we can hold the radiation back from here."

A couple minutes later, an alarm sounded.

"It's rising. Naught point two. Keep it level!" Yana said.

"Yes, sir." Jack said.

Suddenly, the lights flickered, and the machine stopped working, Leah watched as she went from having vision to having none.

"Chan we're losing power tho!" Chantho yelled.

"Radiation's rising!" The Doctor said, and Leah jumped back as Jack fiddled feverishly with the controls.

"We've lost control!" He shouted.

"The chamber's going to flood." Yana shouted.

"Jack, override the vents!" The Doctor told him, and Jack pulled out two power cables.

"We can jump start the override." He said, and he brought them together.

"Don't! It's going to flare!" The Doctor shouted as the live ends flared up. Rivers of electricity ran up and down Jack's body, holding him still for a brief moment before he collapsed.

"I've got him!" Martha said, and she laid him down.

"Chan don't touch the cables tho." Chantho moved them out of the way.

"Martha, tell me you can save him." Leah said fervently.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Yana said as Martha gave Jack mouth-to-mouth.

"The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?" The Doctor asked.

"That's what you're worried about!" Leah asked him.

"Without the couplings, the engines will never start. It was all for nothing." Yana said sadly.

"Oh, I don't know. Martha, leave him." The Doctor told her.

"You've got to let me try." Martha exclaimed as Leah looked at the Doctor. She couldn't believe how he was acting, like he didn't care about Jack's death at all.

"Come on you two, come on, just listen to me. Now leave him alone." The Doctor drew them both away from him. "It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Well," The Doctor said, and Jack gasped. Leah gaped at him as he sat up slowly.

"I think I've got just the man." The Doctor said.

Jack looked around at them bewilderedly. "Was someone kissing me?" He asked, and Leah cracked a smile.

They took off, and Leah watched the screen intently.

"We lost picture when that thing flared up. Doctor, are you there?" Martha asked.

"Receiving, yeah. He's inside." The Doctor's voice came through.

"And alive?" Leah asked.

"Oh, yes."

"But he should evaporate. What sort of a man is he?" Yana asked Martha and Leah.

Leah shrugged as Martha said, "I've only just met him. The Doctor sort of travels through time and space and picks people up. God, I make us sound like stray dogs. Maybe we are."

"He travels in time?" Yana asked, walking away.

"It's complicated, but yeah. That's a time-traveling box called a TARDIS." Leah said.

"When did you first realize?" The Doctor said over the intercom.

"Earth, 1892. Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War One, World War Two, poison, starvation, a stray javelin. In the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die. And all that time you knew." Jack's voice was sharp and tight.

"That's why I left you behind. It's not easy even just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong."

"Thanks."

"You are. I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the TARDIS reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you."

"So what you're saying is that you're, er, prejudiced?"

"I never thought of it like that."

"Shame on you."

"Yeah." The Doctor said not-at-all-regretfully.

"Last thing I remember, back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life. What happened?"

"Rose."

"I thought you'd sent her back home." Jack's voice was surprised.

"She came back. Opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the time vortex itself."

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"No one's ever mean to have that power. If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god. A vengeful god. But she was human. Everything she did was so human. She brought you back to life but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."

"Do you think she could change me back?"

"I took the power out of her. She's gone, Jack. She's not just living on a parallel world, she's trapped there. The walls have closed."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah."

"I went back to her estate, in the nineties, just once or twice. Watched her growing up. Never said hello. Timelines and all that."

"Do you want to die?"

"Oh, this one's a little stuck." Leah heard the avoidance in Jack's voice and looked at the static screen blindly.

"Jack?" The Doctor asked.

"I thought I did. I don't know. But this lot. You see them out here surviving, and that's fantastic." His voice changed slightly on the last word, as though he was echoing someone.

"You might be out there, somewhere."

"I could go meet myself."

"Well, the only man you're ever going to be happy with." The Doctor joked.

"This new regeneration, it's kind of cheeky."

Leah heard a gasp, and she turned.

"Professor?" She asked, seeing tears on his cheeks. "What is it?"

"Time travel. They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know? Stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked." He took out a silver fob watch, and Leah squinted at it.

"Time and time and time again. Always running out on me." Yana murmured to himself.

"Um, Professor Yana, may I-may I see your watch?" Leah asked.

"Oh, it's only an old relic. Like me." Yana said.

"Where's it from?" Leah asked.

"Hmm? I was found with it." Yana said, looking straight at the watch.

"What do you mean?" Martha asked, and Leah shot her a warning glance.

"An orphan in the storm. I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned, with only this." Yana said distractedly.

"Have you opened it?" Martha asked curiously.

_No, Martha. Shut up._

"Why would I? It's broken." Yana said.

"How do you know it's broken if you've never opened it?" Martha asked.

"Martha!" Leah hissed.

"It's stuck. It's old. It's not meant to be. I don't know." Yana muttered, and Leah turned over the watch.

The Doctor's language swirled over it ominously.

"Does it matter?" Yana asked Leah.

"Of course not. It's just a watch. I need to talk to Martha for a second. Family problems back home. One second."

Leah dragged Martha aside.

"What family problems?" Martha asked quietly.

"Martha, listen. Remember when you were at home and the Doctor and I went off to 1913. I told you what happened, how the Doctor became human and didn't remember himself."

Martha's eyes squinted. "Yeah."

"The key to his Time Lord essence was in a watch." Leah said, and Martha's eyes widened.

"Yana?"

"I don't know. But go tell the Doctor. Tell him about the fob watch and that it looks just like his. I'll stop him from opening it." Leah said, and Martha took off.

"Chan where is she going tho?" Chantho asked.

"To check on the Doctor." Leah said, and she saw Yana looking at the watch closer.

"Professor, I need your help." Leah said, and Yana waved her away.

"Ask Chantho."

"Chan won't you take some rest tho?" Chantho asked as his expression became darker.

"Professor Yana, listen to me." Leah said, deadly serious, afraid for her life and she didn't know why. "I need that watch. Now."

"Why? Why should I give it to you? I don't know you."

"Because it's important." Leah said desperately. "I'm trying to save your life. Please." She threw all her cards into the wind.

"Chan professor tho?" Chantho asked tentatively of his back.

"Professor, give me that watch!" Leah said loudly, commandingly, her voice hiding the tremor in her throat just barely.

The man whirled around and slapped her across the face. She stumbled against the metal wall, her ears ringing in pain.

"Chan Professor tho!" Chantho said, and Leah saw a swirl of gold as the watch clicked open.

The professor flipped a switch, and Leah heard a door clang shut outside.

"Chan but you've locked them in tho." Chantho said innocently.

"Not to worry, my dear. As one door closes, another must open." Yana said coldly, and Leah backed away from him, toward the door.

"Chan you must stop tho. Chan but you've lowered the defenses. The Futurekind will get in tho." Chantho protested.

"Chan Professor, I'm so sorry, but I must stop you. You're destroying all our work tho." Chantho pulled out a handheld gun, and the man turned. Leah tried to get smaller as she shook in fear.

"Oh. Now I can say I was provoked." Yana grabbed a live power cable, and Chantho quivered.

"Please, stop!" Leah shouted.

"Did you never think, all those years standing beside me, to ask about that watch? Never? Did you never once think, not ever, that you could set me free?" Yana said, his voice as cold as ice and furious as a storm.

"Chan I'm sorry tho. Chan I'm so sorry."

"You, with your chan and your tho driving me insane."

"Chan Professor, please-"

"That is not my name!" Yana screamed. "The Professor was an invention. So perfect a disguise that I forgot who I am."

"Chan then who are you tho?" Chantho asked as she backed up

"I am the Master." Yana whispered, and he thrust the live end into her chest. She screamed as electricity ran up her body, and she collapsed, slowly.

Yana, the Master, turned to face Leah.

"Doctor!" She yelled, her voice shaking.

"Oh, your precious Doctor won't be coming to save you. Should've left with your friend." The Master told her with a maniacal smile on his face.

"Please, please, stop it. You don't understand." Leah begged.

"Oh, shut up!" The Master shouted, and Leah froze.

"Professor! Professor, let me in! Let me in! Jack, get the door open now!" The Doctor screamed from outside.

"Doctor!" Leah screamed as the Master advanced.

"Leah! What's happening?"

"Doctor, help, oh god, please help me!" Leah banged against the door, as the Master got closer. He got within a foot and grinned at Leah.

"I'm sorry, Doctor." Leah said, breathing harder and harder.

"Leah, what's going on?" The Doctor yelled at the door.

The Master stopped. "Oh, don't worry, dear. You won't die, not today." He walked away to a control panel, and he ripped a circuit board from it.

"Leah!" The Doctor screamed, but Leah was still having trouble breathing.

"Utopia." Yana said, and Leah saw the gun lying by Chantho. Chantho slowly raised her head and reached for it.

"They're coming!" Martha screamed, and Leah saw the lever The Master had pulled to flip the door.

She looked between the dying Chantho and the lever and lunged for the lever. She flipped it, and the door slid open. She quickly turned and raised Chantho's arms. Chantho pulled the trigger, and a bang went off. Leah looked at her as Chantho slumped to the ground, the gun in her hand, and a tear slipped down her face.

"No!" The Master yelled at Leah as she stared at him triumphantly. A dark stain was spreading across her chest, and the anger in his face clouded the room.

The Doctor ran to the TARDIS as Jack closed the door again. The Master slammed the door shut and Leah heard the lock.

"Let me in. Let me in!" The Doctor screamed.

"She's dead." Martha said, bending beside Chantho.

"The lock's broken. Give me a hand!" Jack yelled, and Leah ran to press against it, bracing her feet against the ground as the Futurekind struggled to get it.

"I'm begging you. Everything's changed! It's only the two of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!" The Doctor screamed.

The Futurekind forced the door open, and Leah kicked her elbow into one of their faces. He recoiled quickly.

"Doctor!" She screamed.

"You'd better think of something!" Jack yelled frantically at him.

"Now then, Doctor." A voice boomed over the room.

"Ooo, new voice. Hello, hello. Hello." The man tested out his familiar voice. Leah found herself thinking of who's it was as she grabbed a metal pole and began jabbing at any Futurekind she could see. Martha and Jack pressed against the metal door futilely.

"Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me, I don't think." The Master said.

"I know his voice." Leah said.

"Me too." Martha said over the screams of the hunters.

"I'm asking you really properly. Just stop. Just think!" The Doctor begged.

"Use my name." The Master said.

"Master. I'm sorry." The Doctor whispered.

There was a pause. "Tough!" The Master laughed.

"I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!" Jack yelled as a Futurekind grabbed the pole from Leah. She joined in Martha in pressing the door, but her feet were slipping.

"Doctor, stop him! Help us. They're getting in!" Martha screamed as the Doctor stared at the TARDIS. It shimmered, and disappeared.

"Doctor!" Leah screamed as her feet slipped another inch and the certainty she was about to die crashed into her.


End file.
